Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the (HAV) hepatitis A virus. The virus spreads mainly when an uninfected (and uninfected) person infects food or water that is contaminated with an infected person’s feces. The disease is closely associated with unsafe water or food, inadequate hygiene, poor personal hygiene, and oral-anal sex.
Unlike hepatitis B or C, hepatitis A does not cause chronic liver disease and is rarely fatal. But can cause debilitating symptoms and fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure). That is often fatal. Overall, the WHO estimated that in 2016, 7 134 individuals died of hepatitis A worldwide (0.5% of mortality due to viral hepatitis).
Hepatitis A occurs worldwide and in epidemics, with a tendency to cyclical recurrence. Hepatitis A virus is the common causes and one of the most popular causes of food-borne infections. An epidemic related to contaminated food or water can explode explosively, such as the 1988 epidemic in Shanghai that affected about 300 000 people. They can affect communities for months through person-to-person transmission. Hepatitis-A virus persists in the environment and can be used to routinely control bacterial pathogens and or inactivate food-production processes.
The disease can have significant economic and social consequences in communities. People recovering from the disease may take weeks or months to return to work, school, or daily life. Impact on virus-identified food establishments, and local productivity in general, may be substantial.
Geographical Distribution
Geographic distribution areas may be characterized by high, intermediate or low levels of infection with hepatitis A virus. However, infection does not mean disease because young infected children do not experience any noticeable symptoms.
High levels of infection
In middle or low-income countries with low hygienic practices and sanitary conditions, infection is leading and most children (90%) have been infected with the hepatitis A virus before the age of 10, mostly without symptoms 2. Epidemics are uncommon because older children and adults are usually immune. Disease-related rates are low in these areas and outbreaks are rare.
Low-level areas of infection
In high-income countries with good sanitary and hygienic status, infection rates are low. Adolescents and adults in high-risk groups may have the disease, such as PWID, MSM, people traveling in areas with high endemism, and in isolated populations, such as closed religious groups. In the United States, large outbreaks have been reported. Among homeless individuals.
Areas with intermediate levels of infection
In middle-income countries, and areas where sanitary conditions are variable, children often survive childhood infections and reach adulthood without immunity. Ironically, these improved sanitary and economic conditions may lead to accumulation of adults who have never been infected and who have no immunity. This high sensitivity in old age can lead to high disease rates and large outbreaks can occur in these communities.
The Transfer
Hepatitis A virus is primarily transmitted through the fecal-oral route; It occurs when an uninfected person consumes food or water. That is contaminated with the feces of an infected person. In families, this can happen when dirty hands occur when an infected person prepares food for family members. Waterborne outbreaks, however, are sometimes associated with sewage-contaminated or insufficiently treated water.
The virus can also be transmitted through oral and anal sex ( close physical contact) with an infectious person, although accidental contact between people does not spread the virus.
Symptoms
The incubation period for hepatitis A is usually 14–28 days.
Symptoms of hepatitis A range from mild to critical, and may include malaise, loss of appetite, diarrhea, fever, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whitening of the eyes).
Adults have more frequent signs and symptoms of the disease than children. The severity of the disease and serious consequences are higher in the older age group. Infected children under 6 years of age usually do not experience noticeable symptoms, and only 10% develop jaundice. In older children and adults, the infection usually causes more severe symptoms, with jaundice occurring in more than 70% of cases. Hepatitis A sometimes relapses. The person who recovers just falls ill again from another acute episode. However, recovery is followed by this.