What are the signs of Hep C?

Many people do not feel sick when they are first infected with Hep C. If they do, the most common early symptoms with acute infection are:

• flu-like symptoms
• mild fever
• muscle aches
• fatigue (feeling very tired)
• loss of appetite
• nausea

There is much debate about whether chronic (long-term) infection produces symptoms.

However, many people living with chronic Hep C infection report fatigue, flu-like symptoms and joint and muscle aches that may be a result of chronic infection.

Symptoms with advanced, chronic infection may include:

• dark coffee-coloured urine (rather than dark yellow)
• clay-coloured stools
• stomach pain
• yellowing of the skin and/or whites of the eyes (jaundice)

Even though you may have no symptoms of the infection for many years, you can still have an active infection and can pass on Hep C to others. 

The only way to find out if you have hepatitis C is to get your blood tested (see Should you get tested? for more information on testing and diagnosis of hepatitis C). 

Revised 2011.