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Hepatitis A | HAV | Faecal-Oral Contact | Toys | Unclean Food Handlers

By Viola Woolcott

Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver which is caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). Commonly known as an infectious hepatitis, as it spreads quite easily to the close contacts of those who are infected. There is no lasting, chronic phase of the illness once the infection ends. Usually the illness is not very severe and normally starts within 2-6 weeks after contact with the virus not lasting any longer than two months. In some cases it is not uncommon to experience a second episode of symptoms, maybe a month after the first, which is considered a relapse.

The most major outbreaks link to food that is being contaminated by infected food handlers, I.e. preparing foods with unwashed hands as well as washing and growing fresh food with contaminated water. Many different foods can be infected by sewage containing HAV. Shellfish is another common cause of the problem. Dozens and even hundreds of people can be infected during an epidemic of HAV.

People at risk of contracting Hepatitis A include:

>> Day-care Center - children as well as employees. During nappy changing the infection can be transmitted through faecal-oral contact. In the US it is estimated that 14-40% of all HAV cases are at children’s day care centers. Objects and toys can stay contaminated for quite some time. Even a child without symptoms can bring the infection home to their parents and their siblings.
>> Any person living in heavily crowded and/or unsanitary conditions. The very poor, refugees and prisoners-of-war camps.
>> Anybody who is sexually active
>> Travellers visiting places where Hepatitis A is common
>> Increasingly at risk of infection from oral-anal sexual contact are also homosexual men.

Before the symptoms first appear and especially in the late incubation stages, the virus is passed out in the faeces. Being able to survive for many hours on the surface of the skin, this is the time when the virus is transmitted. The most contagious period of an infected person is about one week before the symptoms develop. It is believed that the first symptoms to appear to be low grade fever, tiredness, muscle and joint aches, nausea as well as loss of appetite. As the liver is often enlarged it causes pain or tenderness in the right upper part of the abdomen. Jaundice develops and typically lasts between seven and ten days.

A person no longer carries the virus and stays immune for life after recovering from hepatitis A. Serious complications are very rare. In the US 75% of adults over the age of 50 will have evidence of previous hepatitis A if their blood was to be tested.

Usually the disease resolves on its own.

Filed under: Health and Diet on December 1st, 2007