It’s possible you might develop mild, flu-like symptoms the first time you’re exposed to hepatitis C. But most “acute,” or recently acquired, infections go undetected, doctors say. Experts say roughly 20% of people who are infected clear the virus from their bodies without treatment. But most people go on to develop a chronic infection.
Hepatitis C can live quietly in a person’s body for many, many years. “But it’s not doing nothing—it’s replicating,” says Amy Jessop, PhD, director of the Hepatitis Training, Research, and Education Center (HepTREC) in Philadelphia.
Doctors have no way of predicting whose disease will remain asymptomatic and whose will provoke mild-to-severe symptoms, says Aaron Glatt, MD, an Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) spokesperson and chairman of the Department of Medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York.
The most onerous hep C symptoms usually signal impaired liver function or scarring of the liver (known as cirrhosis), but the absence of symptoms doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. “A lot of patients are asymptomatic even though they have significant long-term illness,” Dr. Glatt says.
That’s why experts say you should never wait for symptoms to appear. If you think you may have been exposed to the hep C virus, talk to your doctor about getting tested.
Fever
Someone newly infected with hepatitis C may develop a mild fever. But most people do not have a strong immediate reaction to the virus, notes Jessop, who is also an associate professor of public health at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo
Fatigue
Initially, you might feel tired as your body tries to fight the virus. If the infection becomes chronic, you might have periods of fatigue or just a general feeling of being wiped out.
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