What is it?
Viral infection causing swelling of liver and it can become more serious as older one gets.
- The time taken to develop symptoms can vary from fifteen days to fifty days (normally twenty eight days) after exposure.
- Most Children aged under six years show no symptoms if illness does occur, it is not usually accompanied by jaundice.
- Children aged six years and older and adults are more likely to present with signs and symptoms, and have a greater risk of developing fulminant liver failure.
American Medical Association; American Nurses Association-American Nurses Foundation; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration; Food Safety and Inspection Service, US Department of Agriculture. Diagnosis and management of foodborne illnesses: a primer for physicians and other health care professionals. MMWR Recomm Rep 2004;53(RR-4):1–33. PMID: 15123984
Diagnosis Tests
- A definitive diagnosis of HAV infection is usually based on the detection of specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to the virus (IgM anti-HAV) in the patient’s blood, hence one should have a blood test if one believes they have this condition.
Countries affected are:
Caribbean
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Bonaire
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Montserrat
- Puerto Rico
- Saba
- Saint Barthelemy (French Territorial Collectivity)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin (French Territorial Collectivity)
- Sint Eustatius
- Sint Maarten
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos
- US Virgin Islands
North America
- Bermuda
- Canada
- Greenland
- Mexico
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- United States of America (Alaska, Hawaii, Oahu, Maui)
Central America
- Belize
- Costa Rica
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Panama
South America
- Antarctica (Polar Region)
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile (Easter Island)
- Colombia
- Ecuador (Galapagos Islands)
- Falkland Islands
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Suriname
- Uruguay
- Venezuela (Margarita Island)
Europe & Russia
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Faroe Islands
- Finland
- France (Corsica)
- Georgia
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece (Corfu, Crete, Rhodes)
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy (Sardinia, Sicily)
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway (Svalbard)
- Poland
- Portugal (Azores, Madeira)
- Republic of Moldova
- Republic of North Macedonia
- Romania
- Russian Federation
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain (Spain Majorca, Minorca, Balearic Islands, Ibiza, Formentera, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura)
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
Africa
- Algeria
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Eswatini (Swaziland)
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Réunion
- Rwanda
- Saint Helena
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Togo
- United Republic of Tanzania (Zanzibar)
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Middle East
- Bahrain
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi)
- Yemen
Asia
- Afghanistan
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Pakistan
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Brunei Darussalam
- Cambodia
- China
- North Korea
- Hong Kong
- Laos
- Macao
- Malaysia (Sarawak, Sabah)
- Maldives
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- India
- Japan
- Philippines
- South Korea (Korea, Republic of Korea)
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Vietnam
Australasia and Pacific
- American Samoa
- Australia
- Christmas Island
- Cook Islands
- Federated States Of Micronesia
- Fiji
- French Polynesia
- Guam
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Pitcairn
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Tuvalu (Ellice Islands)
- Vanuatu
Cause
- Virus: Hepatovirus (family of Picornaviridae)
- Poor sanitation and poor sewerage system areas
- Caught by putting something in the mouth that has been touched by someone who has Hepatitis A by not washing hands properly or poor personal hygiene
- Drinking infected water or eating salads infected with water (Infection generally occurs following ingestion of food or water that has been contaminated with the faeces of an infected person).
- Contaminated shellfish and oysters (if not cooked properly)
- Oral/anal sexual contact (the faecal–oral route, anal to anal)
Treatments
- Unhygienic injection use (blood transfusions)
Illicit drugs
Symptoms
- General discomfort (muscle weakness), uneasiness or ill feeling (malaise) and/or fatigue (tiredness)?
- Aching, painful muscles, muscle cramps/spasms/stiffness?
- Joint pain and stiffness?
- High temperature greater than 38°C (100°F) or over and/or chills and sweats longer than 72 hours?
- Changes in the way things taste or smell (smokers will often develop a sudden distaste for cigarettes)?
- Pain in the upper right part of the abdomen (generally mild, but constant)?
- Abdominal pain and/or are constant violently vomiting or vomiting longer than two days?
- Diarrhoea?
- Red and/or raised hive rash (especially hepatitis B)?
Then within 2-5 days the infection will trigger the build-up of bilirubin (an orange-yellow pigment produced when the liver breaks down old red blood cells).
Further symptoms include (if these symptoms occurs one needs urgent medical advice):
- Jaundice (yellowing of skin and whites of the eyes)?
- Dark coloured urine?
- Pale or clay-coloured stools?
Complications /Information to beware of/General tips:
Medical Emergency Condition
And/or do not wait, phone for an ambulance if have/develop:
This condition can lead to:
- Long term tiredness
- Symptoms can take four to eight weeks to clear
- The condition can reoccur after several weeks, fully recovery can take up to six months.
- Cholestatic hepatitis
- Characterised by a protracted period of jaundice lasting for more than three months with associated pruritus (itchingness), weight loss, diarrhoea and malaise (tiredness).
- This typically resolves without intervention within 12 weeks with no lasting effects.
Schiff ER. Atypical clinical manifestations of hepatitis A. Vaccine 1992;10(S1):S18–S20. doi: 10.1016/0264-410X(92)90534-Q
- Aplastic anaemia (i.e. when the body stops producing enough new blood cells)
- Arthritis
- Cryoglobulinaemia (i.e. a form of vasculiti- inflammation of the blood vessels)
- Glomerulonephritis (i.e. damage to the glomeruli- inflammation of blood vessels in the kidneys);
- Leukocytoclastic vasculitis (i.e. inflammation of small blood vessels);
- Myocarditis (i.e. inflammation of the myocardium- heart muscles);
- Thrombocytopaenia (i.e. abnormally low levels of platelets);
- Transverse myelitis (i.e. an inflammation of both sides of one section of the spinal cord)
This condition may show similar symptoms to:
Please talk to your healthcare professional (i.e. Medical Doctor/Pharmacist) for further advice
Detailed Information
Please copy and paste any key words from the title: Hepatitis A in the following respective 'Medtick References and/or Sources' to find out more about the disease (this also may include diagnosis tests and generic medical treatments).
- NHS
Find information and advice on health conditions, symptoms, healthy living, medicines and how to get help (British National Health Service).
- Medscape
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- Pharmaceutical Journal
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- Healthline
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- Medical News Today
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- WebMD
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- Cleveland Clinic
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- Mayo Clinic
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- Drugs.com
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- National Organisation of Rare Diseases
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- Verywell Health
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- Fit for Travel
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- DR Axe
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