Complications of hepatitis A virus infection
- prolonged jaundice and/or relapses
- seen in around 15% of the patients
- cholestatic hepatitis (1)
- fulminant (acute) liver failure
- occurs in approximately 0.4% of cases
- common in patients with associated chronic hepatitis B or C
- mortality is around 40% without liver transplant (2)
- in pregnancy - increased risk of miscarriage and prematurity proportional to the severity (2)
The overall mortality is less than 0.1%, although this rises to 40% in those with acute liver failure (2) and symptomatic hepatitis, severe disease, and death are more likely to occur when infection occurs at an older age (3)
Reference:
- World Health Organization (WHO) 2009. The global prevalence of hepatitis A virus infection and susceptibility: a systematic review
- United Kingdom National Guideline on the Management of the viral hepatitides A, B and C; British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (2015)
- Aggarwal R, Goel A; Hepatitis A: epidemiology in resource-poor countries. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2015 Oct;28(5):488-96.
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