What is viral hepatitis A?
Viral hepatitis A is a liver disease of viral origin that can have both a mild and severe course.
Key facts about hepatitis A:
- Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is transmitted by eating contaminated food or water.
- The risk of HGA infection is related to the lack of safe water and poor sanitation and hygiene (for example, due to dirty hands).
- VHA dies after 5 minutes of boiling. At room temperature in a dry environment, it is stored for a week, in water - from 3 to 10 months, in feces - up to 30 days.
- Almost all infected people recover completely from HGA, but occasionally there are cases when patients die from the fulminant (lightning) form of HGA.
- Lifelong immunity is formed after the transferred disease to HGA.
- There is a safe and effective vaccine to prevent HGA infection.
How to get hepatitis A?
The route of infection is fecal -oral, namely:
- consumption of contaminated water or food, which may contain particles of feces of infected people invisible to the eye;
- non-observance of personal hygiene;
- in families, when an infected person prepares food for all family members;
- some types of sexual relations.
What are the symptoms of the disease?
The incubation period of VHA (the period from the moment of infection to the appearance of the first clinical manifestations) usually lasts 14–28 days. Symptoms of HGA can be both mild and severe.
The most common symptoms of HGA:
- expressed general weakness and increased fatigue;
- increase in body temperature;
- loss of appetite;
- diarrhea;
- vomit;
- unpleasant sensations in the stomach;
- heaviness in the right hypochondrium;
- darkening of urine (to the color of beer);
- Jaundice (yellowing of the sclera and skin) — occurs in 70% of adults.
However, not all infected people show all these symptoms.
How to protect against hepatitis A?
- Follow the rules of personal hygiene: wash your hands before eating and after each visit to the toilet.
- Drink only boiled water: it should be boiled for at least 10 minutes.
- Wash vegetables, fruits, greens and berries well before use.
- Do not self-medicate. Only a doctor can diagnose viral hepatitis A and give recommendations on the regimen and treatment.
- Several injectable inactivated hepatitis A vaccines are available on the market, namely Havrix (hepatitis A vaccine) and Twinrix (hepatitis A and hepatitis B combination vaccine). Manufacturers recommend two doses of the vaccine to provide longer protection after vaccination (5–8 years). There are no licensed vaccines for children under one year of age. In countries with high endemicity, the use of the vaccine is limited because most of the adult population has natural immunity as a result of previous exposure to the disease.
