Her parents took her to Kootenai Medical Center's emergency room that night. Patti sensed her diagnosis was right when blood test results sent nurses scurrying to warn everyone about Allison's infected body fluids. Hepatitis A zeroes in on the liver, weakening it so much that it can't process medications. There's no treatment. The virus has to run its course, which varies from weeks to months.
Most people fully recover.
Ingesting fecal-contaminated food or water is the only way to catch the A virus, unlike the more dangerous but slightly less common hepatitis B virus. Hepatitis B most often is transmitted through sexual contact. Food servers who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom spread hepatitis A. Unwashed shellfish from contaminated water can carry the virus. Drinking water contaminated with sewage is another way to catch it. Hepatitis A is so common that 152,000 cases are reported in this country each year.