What is hepatitis A?

Hepatitis A is an infectious liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). The disease varies in severity from a mild illness lasting 1-2 weeks to a severely disabling disease lasting several months. There are other kinds of viral hepatitis such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis D, and hepatitis E. These diseases and the viruses that cause them are not related to hepatitis A although they also affect the liver. This difference means that there are different ways of spreading the disease and different means for preventing and controlling these diseases. Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis […]