Many people have no symptoms when they get infected with hepatitis. Where symptoms do occur, they are often slow to appear. After infection, hepatitis A takes about four weeks to cause symptoms, hepatitis B about three months, and hepatitis C about two months.

Early symptoms may include:
-- Loss of interest in food, especially fatty food
-- Distaste for cigarettes (if you are a smoker)
-- Loss of ability to drink alcohol
-- Feeling unwell
-- Headache
-- Muscle aches
-- Fever

In established disease, symptoms include:
-- Nausea, with or without vomiting
-- Discomfort or pain in the right upper abdomen (where the liver is located)
-- Urine that is dark reddish-brown
-- Faeces unusually pale in colour
-- A yellowish tinge to the whites of the eyes and skin

The following are potentially serious symptoms that require medical attention:
-- Persistent vomiting for longer than six hours
-- Extreme drowsiness, confusion or restlessness
-- Unusual bruising or bleeding
-- Jaundice continuing for longer than three weeks