Hepatitis A is a contagious liver infection like the Hepatitis C and HIV, which is caused by the hepatitis A virus. Moreover, it might last for weeks and even months and it can be transmitted to another person, if they drink or eat something exposed to poop from someone who has the virus.
Symptoms of Hepatitis A
After getting the infection, you will have inflammation in your liver that's because of the virus. Afterwards, some of the symptoms develop as a result of the infection caused by the virus.
Some of these symptoms include:
- Nausea
- Fever
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Jaundice (yellow eyes and skin, dark urine)
- Pain in your belly
- Loss of appetite
Moreover, Children are most likely to have the disease with few symptoms. Thus, the virus can facilely develop within two weeks and the symptoms appear during the first week. However, you can undoubtedly develop the infection without any of the symptoms appear.
Causes of the infection
The infection develop easily if you drank or ate something that has been exposed to someone's personal stuff who is happened to have the disease. However, it can also transmitted if you do one of the following:
- Eat raw shellfish harvested from water that's got the virus in it
- Swallow contaminated ice
- Eat fruits, vegetables, or other foods that were contaminated during handling
There are also some risk factors of getting the disease that we will tackle through the article.
Therefore, these risk factors include:
- People who inject illegal drugs
- Kids in child care and their teachers
- Live with or have sex with someone who's infected
- Travel to countries where hepatitis A is common
- Men who have sex with men
Prevention and Treatment of the infection
Some of the casual treatment of the infection will be getting rest as well as keeping food down and avoiding alcohol. Moreover, in order to avoid getting the infection or the virus you should stick to some regular routine including avoiding sexual activities, washing your hands after using the bathroom as well as not preparing food for others if you have the infection in order not to spread it.
Therefore, personal hygiene is very crucial when it comes to preventing an infection from spreading.