Hepatitis Health Center

Understanding Hepatitis -- Diagnosis and Treatment

How Do I Know If I Have Hepatitis?

Viral hepatitis, such as hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis A (HAV), is diagnosed by your symptoms, a physical exam, blood tests, imaging studies such as a sonogram or CAT scan, and often a liver biopsy.

Hepatitis: Who's at Risk?

For hepatitis C, the CDC recommends that you have a blood test if any of the following is true:

• You have been notified that you received blood from a donor who later tested positive for the disease
• You have ever injected drugs, even once many years ago
• You received a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before July 1992
• You received a blood product used to treat clotting problems that was made before 1987
• You were born between 1945 and 1965
• You have had long-term kidney dialysis
• You have signs or symptoms of liver disease
• You have HIV
• You have a known exposure to HCV

Other people who should consider getting tested for hepatitis C virus include:

• Children born to HCV-positive mothers (check only after 18 months of age to avoid a false positive result) 
• Household members of an infected person if toothbrushes, razors, or other objects that may transmit HCV have been shared
• Hospital and other health care facility workers after a needle stick or exposure to the blood of a person with HCV
• Public safety and emergency medical workers after a needle stick or exposure to the blood of a person with HCV
• People who have had a tattoo or a body part pierced with non-disposable needles and ink
• The sex partner of an HCV-positive person, if traumatic sex or bleeding due to breaks in the skin or other reasons (such as prostatitis -- an inflammation of the prostate gland with occasional bleeding) may have occurred. HCV is generally not transmitted through sexual contact.

The following people who are at increased risk for contracting hepatitis B virus include:

• People who received a blood or a blood-product transfusion prior to 1975
• Hospital and health care workers
• Household members of an infected person
• Intravenous drugs users (both present and former users)
• People who have had a tattoo or a body part pierced with an infected needle
• Sex partners of infected people
• Travelers to countries where HBV is endemic
• People who were born to a mother infected with HBV
• Transplant-organ recipients who received an infected organ

The following groups of people should be screened for hepatitis B virus:

• People born in areas where HBV is endemic
• Men who have sex with men
• Intravenous drug users (both present and former users)
• Dialysis patients
• HIV-infected people
• Pregnant women
• Family members, household members, and sex partners of HBV-infected people (even if sex occurred on only one occasion)
• People who have had more than one sex partner within 6 months

Otherwise, routine screening for hepatitis typically is not recommended unless you have symptoms or signs (such as abnormal liver-related blood tests) of the condition.