What Is Hepatitis A?

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, usually caused by a viral infection. It can also occur in alcoholics, because of the damage to the liver caused by excessive drinking or in drug addicts.

Hepatitis A is an infectious form of hepatitis that is transmitted directly from person to person or through faecal contamination of food or water. It has a long incubation period of at least two weeks but more usually up to six weeks. Symptoms include fever, nausea, feeling very weak and tired and having tenderness and discomfort in the upper abdomen, in the region of the liver.

As is common with many other liver problems, one of the signs is jaundice, in which the skin takes on a strong yellow tinge. This is because the liver, damaged by the infection and inflammation, is unable to carry out its normal functions and cannot break down pigments that come from the processing of dead red blood cells. Someone with hepatitis A also produces very dark urine and very pale faeces, all of which are diagnostic of the infection.