What is viral hepatitis?
Viral hepatitis is infection and inflammation of the liver
caused by a virus. Different types of hepatitis are caused
by different viruses. Your child may have hepatitis A (most
common), hepatitis B (second most common), or hepatitis
caused by another virus. The exact type of hepatitis your
child has cannot be known right away. Blood test results can
usually determine exactly what type of hepatitis your child
has, but the test takes several days.
What is the cause?
A person who has hepatitis A or B may not seem or look sick
or unhealthy at all, so it may be hard to tell how your
child got hepatitis. Sometimes there are outbreaks at day
care centers or restaurants.
Hepatitis A is caused by exposure to another person with
hepatitis A or from swallowing something contaminated with
the infected person's bowel movement (stool). Symptoms may
appear in the exposed person 2 to 7 weeks after the
exposure.
Hepatitis B is caused by exposure to an infected person's
body fluids, such as blood and saliva, or by sexual contact.
Unlike hepatitis A, hepatitis B is not passed through
stool-to-mouth contact. Symptoms of hepatitis B may appear
6 weeks to 4 months after exposure.
What are the symptoms?
Children under 6 years old often have no symptoms. Teens
and adults usually have symptoms.
Symptoms of hepatitis include:
fever
loss of appetite
nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
tiredness
muscle and joint aches
yellow color of the skin (jaundice)
darker yellow or orange color of the urine
pain on the right upper side of the abdomen (belly).
What is the treatment?
Fluids and diet
The best treatment is to make sure your child drinks a
lot of fluids and eats well. Your child should avoid
eating fatty foods. The body has difficulty digesting
fat when the liver is not working well because of the
hepatitis.
Rest
Your child should rest while he or she has fever or
jaundice. When fever and jaundice are gone, your child
may gradually increase activity as with your health care
provider's approval.
Medications
Your child should not take any medications, prescription
or nonprescription, without consulting your doctor.
There is no medicine that gets rid of the hepatitis
virus or heals the liver. The body's immune system
fights the infection.
Once your child recovers from hepatitis A, the virus
leaves the body. However, with hepatitis B, the virus
may remain in the body for life. This chronic infection
of hepatitis B can lead to other health problems such as
cirrhosis of the liver or even liver cancer. There is
also an increased risk of transmitting the disease to
others. Some medicines are used to treat chronic
hepatitis. Theses medicines provide some benefit, but do
not cure the disease.
Follow-up
Your child will have blood tests at follow-up
appointments to check on the condition of the liver and
the progress of the illness. Keep all appointments as
scheduled.
How long do the effects last?
Symptoms usually last 3 weeks to 2 months, but may last up
to 6 months.
Children may return to day care facilities 1 week after
symptoms first appear, with your doctor's permission.
Most children with hepatitis get better on their own without
liver problems later on in life. However, some children do
have liver problems later on. This is one of the reasons it
is important to keep in close touch with your doctor and to
keep all follow-up appointments.
Chronic, or relapsing, infection does not occur with
hepatitis A, but it does occur with hepatitis B in about 5%
to 10% of cases.
How can hepatitis be prevented?
The best way to prevent exposure to hepatitis is good handwashing. Children should wash their hands every time they go to the bathroom.
Good handwashing should be
enforced at home and at day care.
With hepatitis A, it is also important to keep a clean
environment, such as clean toilets, bathrooms, and clothing.
After you know which type of hepatitis your child has,
people living in the same house as the child should be
treated to prevent spread of the disease. Your health care
provider will help plan treatment for your family.
Hepatitis B can be prevented by a vaccine that all babies
should receive. If a child has not received the hepatitis
vaccine as a baby, he or she may be vaccinated in childhood
or adolescence.
A hepatitis A vaccine is available, but is not routinely
given as part of a child's normal immunization schedule.
Usually this vaccine is given to people in areas at high
risk for getting the disease or to people (over age 2)
traveling outside the US.
When should I call the doctor?
Call IMMEDIATELY if:
Your child has changes in symptoms, is confused, is
difficult to wake up, is lethargic (sluggish) or
irritable.
Your child is unable to drink fluids.
Your child is getting much more yellow.
Your child has signs of dehydration such as no urine in
over 8 hours or a dry mouth.
Your child starts to act very sick.
Call during office hours if:
