Hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by a virus that attacks the liver. The time when you first get infected with
hepatitis B is called acute infection. Fewer than 5% of adults who get acute hepatitis B develop chronic hepatitis
and about 1% of adults develop liver failure. Most newly-infected adults have no symptoms. Others get a brief,
acute illness with fatigue and loss of appetite, and their skin and eyes turn yellow (a condition called “jaundice”).
On the other hand, up to 90% of infants and children infected with hepatitis B are unable to clear the infection
and become chronically infected. Chronic infection can lead to cirrhosis (severe scarring of the liver) and/or liver
cancer later in life.
