Hepatitis A can be prevented by vaccination, good hygiene and sanitation.
Hepatitis A is also one of the main reasons not to surf or go in the ocean after rains in coastal areas that are known to have bad runoff. The vaccine was first phased in 1996 for children in high-risk areas, and in 1999 it was spread to areas with elevating levels of infection.
The vaccine is given in two doses in the muscle of the upper arm. The first dose provides protection two to four weeks after initial vaccination; the second booster dose, given six to twelve months later, provides protection for up to twenty years. and those having sexual contact or drug use with infected persons.
There were 30,000 cases of Hepatitis A reported to the CDC in the U.S. in 1997. The agency estimates that there were as many as 270,000 cases each year from 1980 through 2000.
Transmission
The virus spreads by the fecal-oral route and infections often occur in conditions of poor sanitation and overcrowding. Hepatitis A can be transmitted by the parenteral route but very rarely by blood and blood products. Food-borne outbreaks are not uncommon, and ingestion of shellfish cultivated in polluted water is associated with a high risk of infection.
Approximately 40% of all acute viral hepatitis is caused by HAV. In 1988, 300,000 people in Shanghai, China were infected with HAV after eating clams from a contaminated river.
Further Reading
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"Hepatitis A"
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