Generality
Hepatitis A is a highly contagious disease affecting the liver; it is responsible for a small RNA virus, called HAV (or hepatitis A virus), which is transmitted through the consumption of contaminated food and drink or through direct contact with infected people.
The symptoms are sometimes absent and generally mild, characterized by fever and a sense of general malaise; sometimes jaundice is present.
The hepatitis A virus replicates in the liver and is eliminated outside via the faeces. For this reason, the prevention of hepatitis A is based on the adoption of fundamental hygiene rules, such as washing hands frequently, cleaning food and cooking them generously before consumption. For the most exposed people, such as those who go on holiday to countries at risk, active or passive immunization is still recommended.
In the presence of a mild infection, the disease resolves spontaneously even in the absence of medical treatment. Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatic inflammation sustained by HAV has an acute course, does not become chronic, does not facilitate the onset of cirrhosis and liver cancer in the long term and does not leave the condition of chronic carrier.
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Symptoms Contagion and causes Risk factors Diagnosis Complications Treatment and treatment Medications for the treatment of Hepatitis A Vaccination and prevention Diet as a cause and cure of Hepatitis A Hepatitis A - VideoSymptoms
To learn more: Symptoms Hepatitis A
The hepatitis A virus, common in poor hygienic conditions, has an incubation period ranging from 6 to 50 days (generally 30), at the end of which the patient may experience fever and malaise. Some people, however, may not develop any signs or symptoms. In children, in particular, evolution is generally favorable, while in boys and in adults it can cause more important manifestations.
Subject to Risk
All the unvaccinated can contract hepatitis A, but at greater risk are:
- those who are in close contact with infected people;
- international travelers,
- addicts,
- the children,
- the elderly who are not self-sufficient
- homosexuals.
Promote transmission of A. virus infection.
- Poorly hygienic environmental conditions
- poor personal hygiene
- poor hygiene in food preparation.
The symptoms often arise abruptly, so that the patient can confuse them with those typical of a gastroenteritis (intestinal flu) and heal spontaneously without becoming aware of his real health conditions. The most common symptoms refer to: fatigue, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, muscle and abdominal pain, located mainly in the hepatic area (right side of the body below the last ribs), loss of appetite, dark color of the urine, fever light and itchy. After about a week the skin and the white part of the eyes can become yellowish (jaundice), which sometimes persists for up to three weeks.
The serious complications of hepatitis A are extremely rare, so much so that the majority of those affected go against a spontaneous remission of symptoms within one or two months; more rarely, the disease can cause recurrences that prolong the healing time beyond six months.
Hepatitis A - Video: Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Cures
X Problems with video playback? Reload from YouTube Go to Video Page Go to Wellness Destination Watch the video on youtubeContagion and causes
The hepatitis A virus is generally transmitted via the fecal-oral route, ie through the consumption of water and food contaminated by infected faeces. It is therefore sufficient that a person carrying the virus manipulates food, without having carefully washed his hands after a stay in the toilet, to transform it into a dangerous vehicle of infection.
In the same way, in the absence of an adequate sewage system, the virus evacuated with the faeces can contaminate the aquifers, favoring the transmission of hepatitis A both directly (drinking contaminated water) and indirectly (eating the vegetables irrigated with it and seafood that populate the waters near the outlet of the aquifer or, especially in children, to bring contaminated objects to the mouth, such as toys, thermometers, cutlery, etc.).
The hepatitis A virus is fairly resistant to high temperatures, but it capitulates after boiling for 5-10 minutes. For this reason the risk of infection is high in the presence of poor hygienic conditions and in the absence of adequate cooking of the food.
The transmission of hepatitis A is fairly common through proctogenital or ano-lingual sexual intercourse, as well as through the sharing of material already used to inject drugs, including anabolic steroids.
Difficult, but still possible, is parenteral transmission (for example, receiving blood transfusions or blood products).
Infectivity is highest in the period between the two weeks preceding the onset of the disease and the 7 days that follow it. In this period, the virus is concentrated in the faeces, but it is found, in minimal quantities, also in the blood and in the saliva. Consequently, hepatitis A is contagious even in the incubation phase, even before the symptoms attributable to it appear.
