Hepatitis A or Botkin's disease.
Date: 2020-01-20 14:22:25
Hepatitis A or Botkin's disease is an acute viral liver disease that causes damage to organ cells. It is manifested by general intoxication and jaundice. Hepatitis A is transmitted by the fecal-oral route, which is why it is also called "dirty hands disease".
Compared with other hepatitis (B, C, E), this disease is considered the most benign. In contrast, hepatitis A does not cause chronic lesions and has a low mortality rate of less than 0.4%. With an uncomplicated course, the symptoms of the disease disappear in 2 weeks, and liver function is restored within a month and a half.
Diseases are equally affected by men and women of all ages. Children from one to 10 years old suffer the disease in a mild form, while infants and the elderly in severe. After the illness, persistent immunity remains, therefore, hepatitis A is sick once.
Hepatitis A morbidity statistics. According to WHO, 1.5 million people suffer the disease each year. In fact, the number of cases is greater at times. The fact is that 90% of children and 25% of adults suffer a latent asymptomatic form of the disease.
Viral hepatitis A is prevalent in developing countries with low sanitation ^ Egypt, Tunisia, India, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. This should be remembered by tourists going on vacation to hot countries. In some states, the disease is so common that all children become ill before they are ten years old. The territory of the CIS refers to countries with an average risk of infection - 20-50 cases per 100 thousand people. Here, a seasonal increase in incidence is noted in August - early September.
the transmission mechanism is fecal-oral.
A sick person secretes a huge amount of viruses into the environment with feces. They can get into water, food, household items. If the pathogen enters the mouth of a healthy person susceptible to infection, hepatitis will develop.
You can get hepatitis A in these situations.
Swimming in polluted pools and ponds. The virus enters the mouth with fresh and sea water.
Eating contaminated foods. Often these are berries for the fertilizer of which human feces were used.
Eating raw mollusks and mussels from contaminated water bodies in which the causative agent can persist for a long time.
When using poorly purified water. It is dangerous not only to drink contaminated water, but also to use it for washing hands and dishes.
When living together with a patient, infection occurs through household items (door handles, towels, toys).
During sexual contact with the patient. This mode of transmission is especially common among homosexuals.
With intravenous drug administration with a non-sterile syringe. The virus circulates in the blood and is transmitted through a needle from one person to another.
