Infections · 4 min read · Updated October 2026
Hepatitis B: the liver infection most people do not know they have
Hepatitis B is common across Africa and usually silent. A simple blood test, a vaccine and, when needed, daily treatment protect your liver.
Clinician review pending This article is awaiting sign-off by a doctor.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. Around one in twelve people in sub-Saharan Africa carry it, most without symptoms, and over years it can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. It spreads through blood and body fluids: most often from mother to baby at birth, between young children, through unsterile injections or razors, and through sex.
Symptoms
Most people have none. Some notice tiredness, poor appetite, nausea, pain under the right ribs, dark urine, pale stools or yellow eyes. By the time there is swelling of the belly or legs, vomiting blood or confusion, the liver is already badly damaged.
Get tested
A single blood test (HBsAg) shows whether you carry the virus. Everyone should be tested once, and every pregnant woman at her first antenatal visit. If you are negative and not immune, get vaccinated: three doses give lifelong protection. Babies should get the birth dose within 24 hours and then the routine infant schedule.
If you are positive
It is not a reason for shame; it is a reason to be looked after. You need liver blood tests, a viral load, and often an ultrasound every six months. Many people need no medicine yet, only monitoring. Others take one tablet daily (tenofovir) that keeps the virus suppressed and protects the liver. Avoid alcohol, do not share razors or toothbrushes, use condoms, and make sure household members and partners are tested and vaccinated. A mother who is positive can prevent passing it to her baby with treatment in pregnancy and the baby's birth-dose vaccine.
When to seek help
See a doctor soon if you test positive, or if you have yellow eyes, dark urine or pain under the right ribs. Go to a hospital now if you are vomiting blood, have black stools, a very swollen belly, or confusion and drowsiness.
How Telafia can help
A doctor can explain your result, order the follow-up tests, start or review treatment and remind you when monitoring is due. Vaccination is done at a clinic.
Emergency numbers
767 works in Lagos State; 112 is the national number. Numbers change: please check locally. If a number does not connect, go straight to the nearest hospital.
Related doctors
Questions about this? A general practice doctor can help today.