Overview

Hepatitis A may be a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. The virus is one among several sorts of hepatitis viruses that cause inflammation and affect your liver's ability to function.
You're presumably to urge hepatitis A from contaminated food or water or from close contact with an individual or object that's infected. Mild cases of hepatitis A don't require treatment. Most people who are infected recover completely with no permanent liver damage.

Practicing good hygiene, including washing hands frequently, is one among the simplest ways to guard against hepatitis A . Vaccines are available for people most at risk.

Symptoms

Hepatitis A signs and symptoms typically don't appear until you've had the virus for a couple of weeks. But not everyone with hepatitis A develops them. If you do, hepatitis signs and symptoms can include:

·         Fatigue

·         Sudden nausea and vomiting

·         Clay-colored bowel movements

·         Loss of appetite

·         Low-grade fever

·         Dark urine

·         Joint pain

·         Yellowing of the skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)

·         Intense itching

Causes

Hepatitis A is caused by an epidemic that infects liver cells and causes inflammation. The inflammation can affect how your liver works and cause other signs and symptoms of hepatitis A.

The virus most ordinarily spreads once you eat or drink something contaminated with faecal matter , even just tiny amounts. It does not spread through sneezing or coughing.

Here are a number of the precise ways the hepatitis A virus can spread:

·       Eating food handled by someone with the virus who doesn't thoroughly wash his or her hands after using the toilet

·       Drinking contaminated water

·       Eating raw shellfish from water polluted with sewage

·       Being in close contact with a person who's infected — even if that person has no signs or symptoms

·       Having sex with someone who has the virus

Risk factors

You're at increased risk of hepatitis A if you:

·         Travel or work in areas of the world where hepatitis A is common

·         Attend child care or work in a child care center

·         Live with another person who has hepatitis A

·         Are a man who has sexual contact with other men

·         Have any type of sexual contact with someone who has hepatitis A

·         Are HIV positive

·         Are experiencing homelessness

·         Have a clotting-factor disorder, such as hemophilia

·         Use any type of illegal drugs (not just those that are injected)

Prevention

The hepatitis A vaccine can prevent infection with the virus. The vaccine is typically given in two shots. The first one is followed by a booster six months later.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a hepatitis A vaccine for the subsequent people:

·         All children at age 1, or older children who didn't receive the childhood vaccine

·         Anyone age 1 year or older who is experiencing homelessness

·         Infants ages 6 to 11 months traveling internationally

·         Family and caregivers of adoptees from countries where hepatitis A is common

·         People in direct contact with others who have hepatitis A

·         Laboratory workers who may come in contact with hepatitis A

·         Men who have sex with men

·         People who work or travel in parts of the world where hepatitis A is common

·         People who use any type of illicit drugs, not just injected ones

·         People with clotting-factor disorders

·         People with chronic liver disease, including hepatitis B or hepatitis C

·         Anyone wishing to obtain protection (immunity)

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