Acute & Chronic
Hepatitis may start rapidly (acute) or more slowly (chronic). Acute hepatitis typically makes the affected person feel sick, as if they have the flu, often with loss of appetite and sometimes diarrhoea and vomiting. In many cases, it causes a brown discolouration of urine, loss of colour in the stools, and a yellow colour of the skin and eyes (jaundice). Most affected individuals eventually recover completely. The acute form may last from a few days or weeks to several months.
Chronic hepatitis usually causes no symptoms, or causes only loss of energy and tiredness; most people don’t know that they have it. In some people, chronic hepatitis can gradually damage the liver and, after many years, cause it to fail. The chronic form may last from six months to many years after infection. Since the liver also produces blood clotting factors, some people with chronic hepatitis develop bleeding problems.
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