When Your Child Has Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)

Your child has been diagnosed with a hepatitis infection. Hepatitis causes inflammation of the liver. Many things can cause it. One of the causes is infection with a virus called the hepatitis B virus (HBV). The illness caused by HBV infection can be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term). Acute hepatitis B causes flulike symptoms. It's usually mild in children. In most cases, the virus dies off after this acute infection. But if HBV stays in the child's body after the acute illness, this means the child has chronic hepatitis.