Hepatitis A

Yale J Biol Med. 1976 Jul;49(3):227-33.

Abstract

Hepatitis A is a disease of worldwide distribution which occurs in endemic and epidemic form and is transmitted primarily by person-to-person contact through the fecal-oral route. Common source epidemics due to contamination of food are relatively common, and water-borne epidemics have been described less frequently. The presumed etiologic agent of hepatitis A has now been visualized by immune electron microscopic (IEM) techniques in early acute-illness-phase stools of humans with hepatitis A as well as in chimpanzees experimentally infected with material known to contain hepatitis A virus. In addition, several new serologic tests for the detection of antibody against hepatitis A virus have been described. These include complement fixation and immune adherence techniques. Current data suggest that hepatitis A is caused by a single viral agent lacking the morphologic heterogeneity of hepatitis B viral components and that there may be relative antigenic homogeneity between strains of virus recovered from various parts of the world. Serologic studies to date also indicate that hepatitis A virus is not a major contributing cause in post-transfusion hepatitis.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / analysis
  • Antibody Formation
  • Child
  • Complement Fixation Tests
  • Haplorhini
  • Hepatitis A / epidemiology
  • Hepatitis A / immunology*
  • Hepatovirus / immunology
  • Hepatovirus / isolation & purification
  • Humans
  • Immune Adherence Reaction
  • Male
  • Military Medicine
  • United States

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral