{"id":9469,"date":"2025-03-01T13:55:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T18:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/hepa\/"},"modified":"2025-03-02T00:23:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T05:23:35","slug":"hepa","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/dpc\/hepa\/","title":{"rendered":"dpc\/hepa ~  DPH: Disease Info Hepatitis A  &#8211; Delaware Health and Social Services &#8211; State of Delaware"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-swiftype-index=\"true\">\n\n\n\n  <br>\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n  <div class=\"container\" id=\"main_header\">\n\n    \n\n\n\n <!-- BEGIN readspeaker div -->\n\n    <div class=\"rs_skip rsbtn rs_preserve\" id=\"readspeaker_button1\">\n\n      <a accesskey=\"L\" class=\"rsbtn_play\" href=\"https:\/\/app-na.readspeaker.com\/cgi-bin\/rsent?customerid=7262&#038;lang=en_us&#038;readid=main_content&#038;url=https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/dpc\/hepa.html\" title=\"Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker\">\n\n        <span class=\"rsbtn_left rsimg rspart\"><span class=\"rsbtn_text\"><span>Listen<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n\n        <span class=\"rsbtn_right rsimg rsplay rspart\"><\/span>\n\n      <\/a>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n    <!-- END readspeaker div -->\n\n\n\n\n\n    \n\n    <header class=\"pull-left\">\n\n      <h1><!--[type=EDIT name=\"Page Title\"]-->Hepatitis A<!--[END]--><\/h1>\n\n    <\/header>\n\n    \n\n  <\/div><br>\n\n \n\n  <div class=\"container\">\n\n    <div class=\"row\">\n\n      <div class=\"col-md-3\" id=\"leftCol\">\n\n        <div class=\"panel-group\" id=\"accordion\">\n\n          <div class=\"panel sectionmenu_panel\">\n\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\">\n\n              <p class=\"panel-title\"><a class=\"agency_nav\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapseOne\"><strong><i class=\"fa fa-align-justify fa-fw\"><\/i> Public Health Menu<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n\n\n            <div class=\"panel-collapse collapse in\" id=\"collapseOne\">\n\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" id=\"clf_nav\">\n\n                  <ul class=\"nav nav-stacked nav-pills-clf\" id=\"agency_sidebar\">\n    <li><a href=\"\/dph\/\"><h2>Home <i class=\"fa fa-home fa-fw\"><\/i><\/h2><\/a><\/li>\n    <li class=\"toplevel\"><a data-parent=\"#agency_sidebar\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#HomeMenu\"><h2>About <i class=\"fa fa-caret-right fa-fw\"><\/i><\/h2><\/a>\n      <ul class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"HomeMenu\">\n        <li><a href=\"\/dph\/about.html\">About DPH<\/a><\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"\/dph\/sections.html\">Sections &#038; 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participating in activities that may involve sharing food, beverages, or other\n\nsubstances.\u00a0 Also, they are frequently employed in occupations, such as food preparation and service,\n\nwhich could provide the opportunity to expose large numbers of other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How is the virus spread?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hepatitis A virus is spread from the stool (feces) of persons with Hepatitis A.\u00a0 The virus\n\nis often carried by minute particles on an infected person\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Hepatitis A can be spread\n\nby direct contact, or by placing something in the mouth that has been contaminated by a person infected\n\nwith Hepatitis A.\u00a0 Very few virus particles are required for transmission of the infection.\u00a0\n\nIn some cases, drinking contaminated water can spread it.\u00a0 An increasing number of Hepatitis A cases\n\nhave been reported in drug users and it is suspected that contaminated drugs or close personal contact\n\nis the cause.\u00a0 The sharing of items between users of both injectable and inhalable drugs provides\n\nan ideal method for the transmission of the virus.\u00a0 Sneezing or coughing does not spread Hepatitis\n\nA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What are the symptoms of Hepatitis A?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The symptoms of Hepatitis A may include any or all of the following: fatigue, poor appetite, fever,\n\nvomiting, dark urine, and jaundice (a yellowing of the skin and\/or whites of eyes).\u00a0 Very few deaths\n\nare caused by Hepatitis A.\u00a0 Most people recover in a few weeks without any complications.\u00a0 Infants\n\nand young children tend to have no symptoms or very mild symptoms and are less likely to develop jaundice\n\nthan are older children and adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How soon do symptoms appear?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms appear 15 to 50 days after exposure, but generally 25 to 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How is it diagnosed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since there are several types of viral Hepatitis, a blood test is needed to find out which type of\n\nHepatitis is present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>For how long is an infected person able to spread the virus?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The contagious period begins about 14 days before the symptoms appear and ends about 7 days after jaundice\n\nappears.\u00a0 If jaundice is not present, the person should be considered infectious for the 14 days\n\nbefore symptoms started until 14 days after the start of symptoms.\u00a0 Infected persons with or without\n\nsymptoms can spread the disease to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What is the treatment for Hepatitis A?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Only supportive treatment is available for Hepatitis A.\u00a0 Generally, rest and good nutrition are\n\nall that is needed.\u00a0 Drugs and alcohol should be avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How can the spread of Hepatitis A be prevented?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The best way to prevent spread is careful hand washing after using the toilet or changing diapers.\u00a0\n\nInfected people should not prepare or handle food for others during the contagious period. Household members,\n\nsex partners, drug partners or others in close contact with an infected person should call a doctor or\n\nthe health department to get a shot of immune globulin.\u00a0 Immune globulin must be given within 14\n\ndays of exposure to be effective. For long-term protection, Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended and may\n\nbe given simultaneously when administering immune globulin at a separate anatomic injection site.<\/p>\n\n  <!--[END]-->\n\n  \n\n      <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><!-- \/container -->\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen Hepatitis A Public Health Menu Home About About DPH Sections &#038; Programs Office Locations Contact Info Calendar Services A-Z Services Air &#038; Water Quality Birth, Death, &#038; Marriage Records Clinics Health Data &#038; Statistics Emergency Preparedness Health &#038; Wellness Healthy Homes Healthy Workplaces Laboratory Restaurant Inspections Screening and Testing WIC Additional Services Information A-Z [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":9401,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9469","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10708,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9469\/revisions\/10708"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}