Is hepatitis A contagious? Learn about Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A is also a type of liver disease, so every patient needs to pay attention to the treatment and prevention of hepatitis. Hepatitis A can be contagious, so it is necessary to understand the route of infection, treat and prevent hepatitis A fundamentally, and reduce damage.

1. Understand what hepatitis A is

To understand this issue, you must first understand what hepatitis A is. Let’s see what the experts say. Experts point out that hepatitis A is a type of viral hepatitis caused by the hepatitis A virus. It is highly contagious and primarily reproduces in the digestive tract before entering the liver. Therefore, its mode of transmission is fecal-oral transmission. The patient's feces, urine, and vomit contaminate the surrounding environment, food, tableware, water sources, or people's hands and infect other people without disinfection.

2. Infection symptoms

After hepatitis A is transmitted to humans, it first proliferates in the digestive tract. During the brief period of viremia, the virus can continue to proliferate in the white blood cells of the blood, and then enter the liver and replicate and multiply in the liver cells. After being infected with hepatitis A, the hepatitis A virus travels from the Golgi apparatus of the liver cells to the bile duct capillaries, then enters the intestinal cavity through the bile ducts and is excreted through the feces.

3. Symptoms

In endemic areas, hepatitis A is more common in children over 6 months old. As they age, their susceptibility gradually decreases, so hepatitis A is less common in adults. The incubation period of hepatitis A is one month. People with hepatitis A will experience chills, fever, general fatigue, loss of appetite, aversion to oil, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, pain in the liver area, diarrhea, light-colored stools, and liver examination will show enlargement and tenderness. Some patients do not develop jaundice and the symptoms are relatively mild, with a good prognosis.

4. Pay attention to prevention

Therefore, people are most likely to be infected with hepatitis A in environments with poor personal hygiene habits, crowded living areas, dense populations, and poor environmental sanitation, such as schools, factories, rural areas, polluted water sources, childcare institutions or homes. Therefore, Director Du reminds everyone: People should pay attention to personal hygiene in their lives and make sure to wash the food they drink before eating to avoid being infected by hepatitis A.