Hepatitis C is an infection caused by a virus that attacks the liver and leads to inflammation. Most people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have no symptoms. In fact, most people don’t know they have the hepatitis C infection until liver damage presents, decades later, during routine medical tests.

Hepatitis C is one of several hepatitis viruses, and is generally considered to be among the most serious. Hepatitis C is passed through contact with contaminated blood.

Hepatitis C symptoms include:

  • Fatigue
  • Nausea or poor appetite
  • Stomach pain
  • Dark-colored urine
  • Yellow discoloration in the skin and eyes (jaundice)
  • Fever
  • Muscle and joint pains
  • Bleeding easily
  • Bruising easily
  • Itchy skin
  • Fluid accumulation in your abdomen (ascites)
  • Swelling in your legs
  • Weight loss
  • Confusion, drowsiness and slurred speech (hepatic encephalopathy)
  • Spider-like blood vessels on your skin (spider angiomas)