Although health providers use information about a person's symptoms, health history, and behaviors to help make a diagnosis, only blood tests can confirm the diagnosis and pinpoint which type of hepatitis a person has. Since there's no medication that can treat the initial illness that viral hepatitis causes, health professionals manage symptoms as they occur and try to help the body's immune system fight the infection. Your health professional may recommend hospitalization if you experience severe vomiting or do not feel better after several weeks. There is not much available for treatment. Interferon has been approved in chronic hepatitis C cases for those aged 18 or older.
Prevention is still the best option.
Hepatitis A Hepatitis A infects 125,000 - 200,000 people each year and can be easily transmitted. The virus usually causes mild illness and is often mistaken for a stomach virus, although occasionally symptoms are more serious. It is rarely fatal and does not cause permanent liver damage. A person with hepatitis A is considered contagious, which means they can transmit the virus to others as early as two weeks before symptoms appear. The hepatitis A virus does not cause the long-term, chronic symptoms that other hepatitis viruses can cause.