{"id":5431,"date":"2019-04-19T04:50:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T04:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/?p=5431"},"modified":"2021-03-31T15:45:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T15:45:45","slug":"14-risk-factors-for-getting-infected-with-hepatitis-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/14-risk-factors-for-getting-infected-with-hepatitis-a\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Risk Factors for Getting Infected with Hepatitis A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hepatitis A is a virus affecting the liver, and it\u2019s also the most common hepatitis infection of the five types \u2013 Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Most HAV infection incubate for a period of two to seven weeks before exhibiting any symptoms in the infected individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the virus does start to produce symptoms, it produces sensations of fatigue, feelings of pain, a fever, and a pain in your right side similar to the symptoms of HBV and HCV. Most hepatitis A infections clear on their own within a period of 2-months, without the need for medical intervention. In rare cases, HAV infections can progress to a chronic stage which requires medical diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a set of risk factors that make an individual more prone to developing HAV. If you fall into any of the following high-risk categories, it’s best to carefully monitor your behavior to prevent infection with the hepatitis A virus.
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1.    Remaining Unvaccinated<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hepatitis A<\/a> is a preventable disease. Most Americans receive inoculation from hepatitis through a vaccine in their pre-adolescence. However, some people choose to forgo the vaccine, resulting in a higher risk of infection with the hepatitis virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a rising trend among new parents to avoid vaccinating their children. Conspiracy theorists cite claims of the U.S government initiating vaccine programs to infect the public with all sorts of viruses for secretive studies. When pressed for evidence, these conspiracy theorists often cite studies where the polio vaccine caused autism in children. However \u2013 there is no evidence to suggest this is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, more people are choosing to leave their children unvaccinated to dangerous diseases, such as polio, hepatitis, and smallpox. Unvaccinated children pose a health threat to the rest of the population, as they are prime candidates for starting the next global pandemic. Vaccination from hepatitis ensures that your family never has to deal with the effects of the disease.
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2.    Military Personnel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Military personnel deployed in foreign countries such as Afghanistan risk exposure to deplorable living and working conditions. As a result, they may come in contact with the hepatitis A virus through contact with surfaces touched by infected individuals. Should any member of a military company become infected with HAV, they pose a severe threat to the health of the other members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the incubation time for the disease is between one and two weeks, the infected <\/a>individual may pass on the HAV infection to plenty of other officers during this period. The infectious nature of the disease means that it spreads like wildfire through communities, especially those where infected individuals live in shared housing or eat in shared meal facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, the United States Military is well-equipped with medical staff that can swiftly identify and treat the condition, preventing an outbreak from occurring. Military personnel should ensure they keep up to date with their vaccination schedule for all diseases before leaving on international deployment.
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3.    Engaging in High-Risk Sexual Activities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Those individuals that engage in anal sex are at higher risk of developing HAV. Hepatitis A contaminates feces, increasing the risk of infection for those people. HAV also spreads through vaginal and oral sex as well, but the chances of infection are higher with anal sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who choose to have multiple partners or same-sex relationships are also at higher risk of developing HAV infection. Hepatitis A can infect healthy individuals, even if they engage in safe sex practices and use a condom <\/a>during their interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In studies by the CDC, researchers discovered almost 40-percent of individuals infected with HAV, also had some form of sexually transmitted infection in the past. For those with HAV infection with no previous history of STI, research shows that HAV infection increases the chances of developing an STI in the future by between 10 to 40-percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men and women involved in the sex trade are also at high risk of developing an infection with HAV.
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4.    Intravenous Drug Use<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Drug addicts are at high risk of contracting all forms of hepatitis due to sharing needles. The hepatitis A virus lasts for up to 7-days outside of the body, infecting anyone who comes in contact with the live pathogen<\/a>. Needles provide the ideal conduit for the virus to spread from person to person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intravenous drug users often share needles without the thought of sterilizing them beforehand. As a result, the rates of HAV and HBV infection in areas with large homeless populations \u2013 such as San Francisco, are skyrocketing out of control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city now offers various health programs allowing addicts to trade in their old needles for new, sterile syringes. The efficacy of these programs is still yet to be determined. City health official\u2019s opinions split on whether these programs are adding to the problem of homelessness and addiction, or helping to curb the spread of disease in the homeless and addicted communities.
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5.    Daycare Employees and Children<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Young children are still in the process of developing their immune systems<\/a>. As a result, they are at higher risk of contracting all sorts of viral and bacterial infections. Children often give no thought to personal hygiene \u2013 because they have yet to learn its importance in their life. As a result, kids tend to share things like food and drink with their friends \u2013 resulting in a high risk of catching HAV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should the infected child bring the virus home, the chances are that they will infect everyone in the household during the incubation period before they start to develop symptoms of the virus. Since children are social \u2013 meaning they attend nursery school and playdates, they are prime candidates to spread the disease in the community. If one kid at a playschool develops hepatitis, most daycare advisors will tell parents to quarantine their kids until they eliminate the threat of the virus \u2013 which could take several months.
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6.    Working in Institutional Care<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People working in retirement homes, daycares, hospitals, and treatment centers are all at high risk of contracting the hepatitis A virus through contact with infected individuals in the facility. Hepatitis A spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected people, and those tasked with handling these fluids may contract the disease if they do not practice the proper preventative care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurses changing sheets and bedpans of those seniors unknowingly infected with HAV may accidentally come in contact with the urine <\/a>or feces of the patient, thereby contracting the disease. Similarly, those adults involved in childcare may also contract HAV through contact with the saliva of infected children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone working in a profession which calls for them to work with people, especially sick people, should ensure that their vaccination schedule is up to date, and they take precautions when handling body fluids of others \u2013 such as wearing gloves and a face mask.
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7.    Blood Therapy Patients<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is a disturbing new therapy where people pay large sums of money to replace their blood with that of a young person. These transfusions are often not conducted by doctors and can result in complications to both the patient and the practitioners administering the blood transfusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This practice typically involves wealthy people paying vast sums of money for the service, and donors are part of a rigorous testing program that analyzes their blood for anomalies and infectious diseases \u2013 such as hepatitis<\/a>. However, many of these young individuals fall into the high-risk group for developing HAV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a possibility that the donor may contract HAV, and then pass on the contaminated blood to a patient receiving the treatment. Since the virus takes up to 3-weeks to incubate in the body, the donor may give infected blood which results in cross-contamination of other blood samples, or HAV infection in the patients.
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8.    International Travel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Millions of Americans travel abroad throughout the year, visiting a wide variety of locations. Hepatitis A is also known as the \u201ctraveler\u2019s disease,\u201d because it\u2019s the most common preventable infection experienced by those Americans traveling to foreign destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Countries with poor water sanitation and high rates of disease are melting pots for all types of germs \u2013 from hepatitis to Ebola<\/a>. Traveling to destinations, such as Haiti and other locations in Africa or eastern Europe exposes the person to these pathogens through using public facilities, such as washrooms and toilets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People living in these countries have adapted immune systems to deal with the level of environmental pathogens. However, new travelers to the country do not have the same level of resistance to infection and disease as the locals, and they may contract hepatitis A from touching surfaces loaded with the virus, contact with infected individuals, or drinking and eating contaminated food and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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9. Knowledge Gaps in the Recycling Industry<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The recycling industry is worth billions of dollars every year. Waste is removed from large facilities like casinos, resorts, and landfills \u2013 and then sorted and recycled from there. Mankind produces enough waste to keep the industry going for several thousand years, and this has led to the existence of many newer companies dealing with waste recycling and removal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these companies don\u2019t have the proper training or accreditation to handle the waste. Often this means that they aren\u2019t aware of many of the associated risks that handling waste can have, and they aren\u2019t taking the necessary precautions that a trained professional would know to stick to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These knowledge gaps in the recycling industry can lead to an increased likelihood of contracting hepatitis and related viruses, and of spreading it to the people they work and live together with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proper education in the recycling industry about the potential danger of contaminants <\/a>and improper handling of waste can help to reduce the problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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10. Close-Knit Living Communities, Homes or Shelters<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Close-knit living communities that have people crowded too-tightly together can increase the instance of coming into contact with substances that are contaminated by hepatitis \u2013 and sometimes other problems develop in close-knit communities such as head lice that have to be eradicated with the use of collaborative effort from everyone in the group (or the problem will just occur again). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many reputable organizations and shelters for which this isn\u2019t true, but there are also many \u201cshelters\u201d that fly underneath the radar and capitalize on the desperation of people who need a place to sleep in a hurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proper hygiene <\/a>and medical care can help to reduce any instances of hepatitis infection becoming a problem in a close-knit living community of any type. (And it\u2019s important to note that you should be taking as many hygienic precautions as you can even when the people around you are not doing the same if you want to reduce your risk of contracting any disease, whether hepatitis or the flu.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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11. Improper Medical Waste Storage and Disposal<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hospitals, medical centers and clinics all over the world dispose of thousands of tons worth of medical waste every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are specific procedures associated with disposing of medical waste, usually involving the destruction of all waste that might be contaminated by bacteria <\/a>or viruses, but there are many hospitals that barely have the funding for life-saving equipment or medication that also lack the means to dispose of waste properly. (And yes, there are other hospitals who simply dispose of waste in irresponsible ways, too.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private medical patients (ones who inject themselves with insulin or ones who are on a home feeding tube or IV) should also take the same special care when disposing of medical waste as a hospital does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these examples can potentially increase the risk of spreading a hepatitis infection from one person to another. In the same way, most of these examples could have been prevented if proper measures were followed from the start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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12. Emergency Medical Technicians<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People who work in hospitals, consulting rooms, and surgeries <\/a>should not be the only professionals who can consider themselves at a higher risk of contracting hepatitis. Many times other emergency respondents can also be at an increased risk: There are too many cases of EMT staff being accidentally (or purposefully) bitten or jabbed by an infected needle while on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same way, nurses or dental assistants are often subjected to the same risk factors during work: Sometimes these situations are unavoidable, and if you work in close contact with people then you can automatically consider yourself at an increased risk, particularly where any accidental body fluid transfer might be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMT\u2019s and any other emergency staff should always be aware of the risk. Wear adequate protective gear, and make sure to double-check for any punctures or holes before rushing into a situation where exposure to any pathogens or diseases could be possible.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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13. Lack of Education Among Morgue Staff<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Living people aren\u2019t the only possible carriers of hepatitis. While it might not be the most pleasant thing for most people to imagine, there are many careers where contact with the deceased is a natural part of the job. These are jobs like forensic staff, police divers, morgue and crematorium workers \u2013 all of which might encounter remains during the average day on the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These can all serve as potential carriers for a range of diseases. Even one slip up by an inexperienced (or simply uncaring) person on the job could mean that an infection spreads quickly \u2013 or at the very least, that they themselves are infected <\/a>with something they could have avoided.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proper training is needed in order to reduce the problem, especially of newer staff lacking the experience to realize that what they\u2019re dealing with should be handled as carefully as if they were working with radioactive materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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14. Individual \u201cOutbreaks\u201d of Hepatitis<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Break-outs and flare-ups of conditions are common, and almost no health condition on earth from hepatitis through to the everyday flu <\/a>is considered immune to this rule. If there\u2019s any individual break-out of hepatitis in your area, town or city, it\u2019s likely that this increases your risk of contracting it if you were to come into contact with any infected substances or affected people.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These individual outbreaks of the condition are why medical professionals recommend that people be vaccinated against the chances of being infected by conditions like hepatitis A even when confronted with it directly in the face of a serious outbreak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where you aren\u2019t sure of your current vaccination status (or where you have been experiencing symptoms that can include a generally lowered immune system), make an appointment with your doctor: Blood tests can establish whether any of your symptoms are related to any recent outbreak or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n

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