So far three cases have been confirmed to be hepatitis A and there are two additional probable cases. The only identified characteristic in common among the students is attendance at the school. Hepatitis A is caused by a virus that affects the liver. Of the types of hepatitis, hepatitis A is the most mild and rarely results in serious illness. Patients with hepatitis A do not become carriers nor do they develop long-term problems such as cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Illness generally lasts for two weeks.
There is no antiviral treatment for Hepatitis A, and symptoms are treated as needed. The stool is infectious, and the disease is spread when infectious stool somehow gets into the mouth of another person. The spread of hepatitis A occurs especially among families and at child care centers. On rare occasions, contaminated water or contaminated food causes an outbreak. The patient is most infectious for the two weeks before the onset of jaundice and for not more than one week afterwards.