Many people with chronic hepatitis have no symptoms at all. For those who do, the symptoms often include a feeling of illness, poor appetite, and fatigue. Sometimes an affected person also has a low-grade fever and some upper abdominal discomfort. Jaundice may or may not develop. Features of chronic liver disease may eventually develop. These can include an enlarged spleen, spiderlike blood vessels in the skin, and fluid retention. Other features may occur, especially in young women with autoimmune hepatitis. Such features can involve virtually any body system and include acne, cessation of menstrual periods, joint pain, lung scarring, inflammation of the thyroid gland and kidneys, and anemia.

Many people have chronic hepatitis for years without developing progressive liver damage. For others, the disease gradually worsens. Over a period of years, about 20% of people with chronic hepatitis C and about 50% of people with autoimmune hepatitis develop cirrhosis, with or without liver failure.

Although the person's symptoms and liver function test results provide helpful diagnostic information, a liver biopsy (see Diagnostic Tests for Liver, Gallbladder, and Biliary Disorders: Biopsy of the Liver) is essential for a definite diagnosis. The liver biopsy allows a doctor to determine the severity of the inflammation and whether any scarring or cirrhosis has developed. The biopsy may also reveal the underlying cause of the hepatitis. Occasionally, a biopsy needs to be performed more than once.

• How to contact us
• How to order our products
• How to pay
• What's our service after sale