It is common where public sanitation is poor. In Canada, HAV occurs principally in household and sexual contacts of infected people, in travellers returning from countries where HAV is common and in communities with inadequate sanitation. Many young children have no or mild symptoms, and illness is not accompanied by jaundice. Death from HAV is rare. A person is capable of infecting others for 1 or 2 weeks before they have symptoms.
Most people are no longer infectious after the first week of jaundice.
Travellers to areas where HAV is common should be considered for administration of hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin to prevent infection.