Among the five types of viral hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E, hepatitis A (hepatitis A) is a common one. Although hepatitis A is not as harmful as hepatitis B and C in terms of chronicity and carcinogenicity, hepatitis A can also cause liver failure and serious complications if not treated in a timely manner or improperly treated, which can cause great damage to health. Therefore, effective prevention or early detection of hepatitis A and timely treatment are crucial to ensure health, and people should learn more about hepatitis A prevention and treatment and do a good job of prevention in daily life. How does hepatitis A come about? Hepatitis A virus is the pathogen that causes hepatitis A. The source of infection is the person who is infected with hepatitis A virus, including patients in the acute stage and asymptomatic infected people, the incubation period of hepatitis A is 2-6 weeks. It disappears 2 weeks after the onset of clinical symptoms or 1 week after the onset of jaundice. Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the digestive tract and is transmitted in a typical fecal-oral manner: the virus is excreted in the stool and then enters the mouth of a healthy person through various routes. For example, feces is discharged directly into water without treatment or during flooding season, resulting in fecal contamination of water sources or watering of vegetables, fruits and vegetables with feces. Once a susceptible person eats food contaminated with hepatitis A virus and unboiled contaminated drinking water or cooked food, or eats raw vegetables, strawberries, melons, etc., hepatitis A can develop. Outbreaks or disseminated infections are more likely to occur especially under special circumstances such as earthquakes and floods. Therefore, it is recommended that people try not to eat raw food, not to drink raw water, to avoid sharing dishes and utensils, and to strictly sterilize shared eating utensils. In recent years, the trend of “raw food” has become quite popular, but in fact this diet is very harmful. Several outbreaks of hepatitis A in recent years have been caused by unclean diet, such as the hepatitis A pandemic that occurred in the Shanghai area in 1988, caused by raw food contaminated with the hepatitis A virus in the ark. Simply put, hepatitis A is “eaten” out! Who is susceptible to hepatitis A infection? Anyone who has not been infected with the hepatitis A virus, whether a child or an adult, is susceptible. However, because hepatitis A virus infection is closely related to socioeconomic status and personal hygiene habits, children and adolescents under the age of 15 are the most susceptible to hepatitis A in China. Because patients can acquire lasting immunity after hepatitis A disease, fewer people develop hepatitis A into adulthood, and even fewer older people develop hepatitis A. It is important to note that the incubation period of hepatitis A is generally 15 to 45 days, and the period from the end of the incubation period to the acute phase is characterized by detoxification and is highly contagious. In schools, factories, rural areas, child care institutions or families with crowded housing, high population density and poor environmental hygiene, hepatitis A infection and epidemics are more likely to occur, and susceptible people should do a better job of prevention. Clinical manifestations and hazards of hepatitis A The disease is clinically divided into four types: acute jaundice type, acute non-jaundice type, biliary type and severe disease type. Acute jaundice type can be divided into the above three stages: 1. Pre-jaundice: the onset of the disease is urgent, the acute number of patients have fever and chills, body temperature between 38 to 39 ℃. Average fever duration of 3 days, a few up to 5 days, general malaise, loss of appetite, aversion to oil, nausea, vomiting, epigastric fullness or mild diarrhea. In a few patients, the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection are the main manifestation, and the urine color gradually deepens to a thick tea color. This period lasts 5 to 7 days. 2, jaundice period: the self-conscious symptoms improve, jaundice appears after the fever subsides, visible sclera, skin yellow staining to varying degrees, pain in the liver area, liver enlargement, pressure pain and percussion pain, some patients have splenomegaly. During this period, there may be short-term stool color lightening and skin pruritus. Liver function is obviously abnormal. It lasts from 2 to 6 weeks. 3. Recovery period Jaundice gradually subsides, symptoms improve or even disappear, liver and spleen shrink back to normal, liver function gradually recovers. This period lasts from 2 weeks to 4 months, with an average of 1 month. This type is easily recognized by patients because of the obvious jaundice. The acute non-jaundiced type is less common than the jaundiced type. The onset of the disease is slow and the clinical symptoms are mild, manifesting only weakness, loss of appetite, pain in the liver area and abdominal distension. Hepatomegaly is predominant and splenomegaly is rare. Due to the lack of jaundice, the disease is not easily recognized clinically by patients and may even be missed by some non-infectious or hepatologic physicians. The stasis biliary type is a specific manifestation of the jaundice type and is characterized clinically by mild gastrointestinal symptoms, prolonged fever, intrahepatic obstructive jaundice lasting longer (weeks to months), abdominal distention, pruritus, transient light-colored stools, dark urine with a strong tea color, and hepatomegaly with pressure pain. It needs to be differentiated from other intra- and extrahepatic obstructive jaundice. The older the adult HAV-infected person is, the higher the percentage of severe hepatitis onset. In addition, there are some patients with subclinical forms without obvious clinical symptoms, but with mild abnormalities in liver function. Overall, hepatitis A is a self-limiting disease with a generally good prognosis, easy recovery, and rarely evolves into chronic liver disease. However, hepatitis A is prone to collective outbreaks and can lead to serious social and public health problems. Patients must be treated in isolation for as little as 21 days, and full recovery can take up to six months. The disease naturally poses a risk to individual health and can also cause large economic losses and social impact in the event of a large outbreak. Prevention and early treatment are key As mentioned earlier, most clinical manifestations of hepatitis A are mild, serious consequences are rare, and the clinical prognosis is good. However, clinical findings show that young infants under 6 months of age with hepatitis A are often sicker and have a significantly higher mortality rate. There are reports that hospitalized hepatitis A within the age of half a year accounts for 70% of severe hepatitis A in children, with a morbidity and mortality rate of about 50%; in addition, there are more elderly hepatitis A patients with heavy and complications, with a morbidity and mortality rate of about 10%. In addition, hepatitis A is common in pregnant women, and heavy cases are common, and can occur in all stages of pregnancy. It can occur in all stages of pregnancy. Early stages are more likely to cause miscarriage, late stages are more likely to cause preterm delivery, and postpartum is more likely to have vaginal hemorrhage. The more advanced the pregnancy, the more severe the effects. It can lead to hemorrhage during delivery and to other infections after delivery. When hepatitis A progresses to the stage of severe hepatitis, not only the life of the pregnant woman is endangered, but also the fetus often dies suddenly. Therefore, early diagnosis and timely treatment are important for the treatment of hepatitis A. Patients with hepatitis A should avoid drinking alcohol, overexertion and the use of drugs that damage the liver. Patients should rest in bed and be given easily digestible, nutritious food and fresh vegetables and fruits. For those who cannot eat, intravenous rehydration, adequate calories, water and electrolyte balance, vitamin C and vitamin B. For those who have anorexia and nausea, give symptomatic treatment such as multi-enzyme tablets and gastric renformation. Hepatitis must be treated in hospital during pregnancy. Although hepatitis A itself is not an incurable disease, it can still cause a lot of physical pain to the patient. Especially for those patients who have a bad liver foundation before, such as alcoholic liver patients infected with hepatitis A, or those who originally had hepatitis B, or hepatitis A based on cirrhosis, the danger is more serious, so it is very important to prevent hepatitis A. Paying attention to daily hygiene and developing good eating and sanitation habits are essential to prevent hepatitis A infection. For example, wash your hands before and after meals. Avoid or reduce eating at roadside restaurants, do not drink raw water, and try to ensure that fish is cooked before eating. For children and adolescents, it is especially important to increase education about this. Unfortunately, for various reasons, it is currently not realistic to prevent hepatitis A in China by completely interrupting dietary transmission. The most effective means currently recommended by countries around the world is vaccination against hepatitis A. Vaccination against hepatitis A provides children with a longer-lasting (at least 20 years) immunity. If you feel unwell or have symptoms of hepatitis A, you should go to the hospital for examination and treatment in a timely manner, and you should not delay or use medication on your own to avoid losing the best time for treatment.