Hepatitis A is inflammation (irritation and swelling) of the liver from the hepatitis A virus. The virus is primarily spread when an uninfected (and unvaccinated) person ingests food or water that is contaminated with the faeces of an infected person. The disease is closely associated with a lack of safe water, inadequate sanitation and poor personal hygiene.
Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A infection does not cause chronic liver disease and is rarely fatal, but it can cause debilitating symptoms and fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure), which is associated with high mortality. The hepatitis A virus is one of the most frequent causes of food borne infection. HAV is found in the stool of people with hepatitis A. The incubation period of hepatitis A is usually 14–28 days. Symptoms of hepatitis A range from mild to severe, and can include fever, malaise, and loss of appetite, diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal discomfort, and dark-coloured urine and jaundice (a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes). It can survive for a long time at room temperature in food and on surfaces and objects. The virus is not affected by cold or by freezing, but it is inactivated by heating foods to >185°F (85°C) for one minute. Adequate chlorination of water also kills the hepatitis A virus. Because the virus can live in the environment for a long time, people can also get hepatitis A by: Swallowing contaminated water or ice, eating raw or undercooked shellfish harvested from sewage-contaminated water, Eating raw fruits, vegetables, or other foods that were contaminated during growing, harvesting, processing, or handling, eating cooked foods that were contaminated after cooking.
Taqman Real time PCR assay.
• Detect acute infection prior to seroconversion (ie, within 1-2 weeks post-exposure).
• Assess viral measured by changes in the HAV RNA levels.
• Assess prognosis and early diagnosis for better patient cure.
• Confirm active hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection In patient.
• People who use recreational, injectable drugs.
• People who work with the hepatitis A virus in a laboratory or with primates that may be
Infected with the virus.
• People who have chronic liver disease because of their increased risk of serious complications
If they acquire hepatitis A infection.
• Individuals with clinical symptoms or abnormal liver enzyme levels.
• Men who have sex with other men.
• International travelers to regions of the world where HAV is endemic.
• All pregnant women.
• HIV-positive persons.
• Provision of safe drinking water and proper disposal of sanitary waste.
• Monitoring disease incidence.
• Determination of source of infection and mode of transmission by epidemiologic investigation.
• Detection of outbreaks.
• Spread containment.
• Adequate supplies of safe drinking water.
• Proper disposal of sewage within communities.
• Personal hygiene practices such as regular hand washing with safe water.
Every day.
3-4 days.
Blood, serum, plasma, Collect in: Lavender (EDTA), pink (K2EDTA), or serum separator tube. Stability collection to initiation of testing On Cells: Ambient: 4 hours; after separation from cells: Refrigerated: 48 hours; Frozen at -20°C: 72 hours; Frozen at -70°C: 4 months. Do not thaw avoid repeated freezing and thawing
NOTE: Samples should be collected during the viraemic phase for the presence of viruses during the active infection. In case of non viraemic phase stool sample is most preferred sample.
Separate serum or plasma from cells within 24 hours.
Frozen-20°C. Refrigerate specimens at 2°C-4°C.
Heparinized specimens, Hemolysis sample, Quantity not sufficient for analysis, specimen grossly contaminated, specimen too old, frozen whole blood specimen, specimen leaky or tube broken.
This test can quantitate/detect Hepatitis A Virus RNA over the linear range 70-108 copies/mL. However this does not mean that lower copies or higher copies cannot be detected. The lower copies can be detected in some cases. This is a limitation of the currently available extraction systems. A negative result does not preclude the presence of HAV infection because results depend on adequate/proper patient sample storage and transportation as RNA is fragile and thermo labile, absence of inhibitors and sufficient RNA to be detected. HAV RNA can be detected in blood and stools of most people during the acute phase of infection Hepatitis A is a viral disease, and as such, antibiotics are of no value in the treatment of the infection. There is no hyperimmune E globulin available for pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis.
The result of this test must always be correlated with clinical status and history of the patient and other relevant data and should not be used alone for the interpretation.