hepatitis B

noun

|Updated on: 6 Jul 2018

Definition of hepatitis B

: an acute or chronic hepatitis that is caused by a DNA virus (species Hepatitis B virus of the genus Orthohepadnavirus, family Hepadnaviridae), is marked chiefly by fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, darkened urine, jaundice, and joint pain but may be asymptomatic, and is transmitted especially by contact with infected blood (as by transfusion or by sharing contaminated needles in illicit intravenous drug use) or by contact with other infected bodily fluids (such as semen)

Note: The acute form of hepatitis B, a mild illness lasting several weeks to months, may progress to long-term or chronic infection often leading to liver damage, liver failure, or liver cancer.

— called also serum hepatitis

Recent Examples of hepatitis b from the Web

Each year, the World Health Organization estimates, hepatitis B kills 887,000 people.

— carl zimmer, New York Times, "In Ancient Skeletons, Scientists Discover a Modern Foe: Hepatitis B," 9 May 2018
More than 90% of children under the age of 3 have been vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, chickenpox, and polio.

— brittany shoot, Fortune, "These Are the Riskiest Cities and Counties For Infectious Disease Epidemics," 14 June 2018
Oftentimes, cancer is caused by infectious viruses such as hepatitis B and human papillomavirus, which can be prevented with a vaccine.

— molly sullivan, sacbee, "How do you get a skeptical patient to test for cancer? UCD, health center target cultural barriers," 2 June 2018
In response to the letter, a WHO spokesperson pointed out that another virus, hepatitis B, causes more than 400,000 cancers each year worldwide.

— kai kupferschmidt, Science | AAAS, "Scientists are declaring war against a leukemia-causing virus that has infected millions," 23 May 2018
More than 90 percent of kids under age 3 have had their full series of vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella; hepatitis B, chickenpox; and polio.

— NBC News, "Public support for vaccines drops a bit," 21 May 2018
The blood is screened for infectious diseases, such as hepatitis B and C, HIV, West Nile virus, CMV, and Epstein-Barr virus.

— shari rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, "'This room becomes sacred.' The heroic and heartbreaking journey of one organ donor's body," 17 May 2018
In 2000, just 1 percent of the population of those countries received the pentavalent vaccine (covering diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and hib); by 2016, that number was 76 percent.

— felix salmon, WIRED, "Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Ethically Iffy ‘Philanthropy," 15 May 2018
The results were negative for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV, the lawsuit states.

— sean robinson, The Seattle Times, "Class-action suit filed in Puyallup hospital hepatitis C case," 13 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hepatitis B.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of hepatitis b

1971

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Medical Dictionary

hepatitis B

noun \ -ˈbē \

medical Definition of hepatitis B

: an acute or chronic hepatitis that is caused by a double-stranded DNA virus (species Hepatitis B virus of the genus Orthohepadnavirus, family Hepadnaviridae), is marked chiefly by fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, darkened urine, jaundice, and joint pain but may be asymptomatic, and is transmitted especially by contact with infected blood (as by transfusion or by sharing contaminated needles in illicit intravenous drug use) or by contact with other infected body fluids (as semen)

Note: The acute form of hepatitis B, a mild illness lasting several weeks to months, may progress to long-term or chronic infection often leading to liver damage, liver failure, or liver cancer.

— called also serum hepatitis