Hepatitis B is an inflammatory viral infection of the liver. Children may catch the virus from their mothers during birth, or through close contact with infected people in their households. Since the virus can live outside the human body for seven days or longer, transmission might also occur through contact with household objects used by an infected person. Most children under the age of 5 are asymptomatic, but between 30 and 50 percent of those aged 5 and older develop initial symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fatigue and Lethargy Symptoms
An infant or a child infected with hepatitis B may suffer from a general sense of malaise, state health officials at KidsHealth, a Nemours Foundation health education website. A parent may notice that an infant seems uncharacteristically fatigued or listless. Older children may seem lethargic and those old enough to speak may complain of feeling tired or physically weak. Some may complain of pain in the joints or muscles.
Nausea and Vomiting Symptoms
In the few children under 5 who do experience symptoms, vomiting, nausea and a loss of appetite may occur. Parents may notice that an infant or child's stomach appears swollen. As with all other symptoms, the incidence of those stomach-related problems is higher in children over the age of 5, and teenagers may experience symptoms more frequently than younger children, note medical professionals at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Eye and Skin Symptoms
Jaundice may occur in those infected with the hepatitis B virus. With jaundice, the skin or the whites of the eyes become yellow. That is a sign of problems with the liver or the bile ducts and parents should seek medical attention for a child with jaundice. The skin of some infected children may bruise easily and it may take longer for bleeding to stop.
When the body cannot defeat the hepatitis B virus, the infection may become chronic. Children and infants are particularly at risk for developing chronic hepatitis B, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. If chronic hepatitis goes untreated, the child can develop cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. One symptom of cirrhosis that may appear on the skin is a pattern of veins resembling spiders: medical professionals refer to them as spider angiomas.
