The virus can be carried on an infected person's hands and spread by direct contact or by consuming food or drink the infected individual handled. Hepatitis A also can be acquired through oral-anal sex or by consuming water or raw shellfish contaminated by sewage. Hepatitis A is not spread by coughing, sneezing or other casual contact such as sitting next to a person or being in the same room. Groups at increased risk for hepatitis A, according to Brender, include travelers to developing countries, injecting drug users, men who have sex with men and possibly children and workers in day care centers where outbreaks occasionally occur. Symptoms include fatigue, mild fever, flu-like illness, nausea and vomiting, stomach ache and loss of appetite.
Diagnosis is made through a blood test.
These figures place Texas in the intermediate rate of hepatitis A in the United States. Children are among those at greatest risk of infection with one-third of all reported cases in 1996 occurring in children under age 10. Treatment, said Brender, is mainly rest, a low-fat diet and plenty of liquids. Once you get it, you will never get it again. People who have recovered from hepatitis A do not continue to carry the virus.