So which is which?
Hepatitis A (HAV)
Globally, hepatitis A accounts for 1.4 million cases a year and is one of the most common foodborne infections. HAV can be resistant to food processes that routinely control pathogens. It is a viral inflammation of the liver that doesn’t cause chronic liver disease in most of those exposed.
In poor, developing countries, infection rates of 90 percent for children before the age of ten are common. Older children and adults have built immunity to this virus so disease rates are low and outbreaks are rare.
In developed countries with good sanitation practices, infection rates are low. But infections still spread through high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men, IV drug users, or isolated populations such as closed religious communities.
Other means of transmission are exposure to the stool of an infected person, eating contaminated fruits, vegetables and other foods, eating raw shellfish or swallowing contaminated ice.
You can have hepatitis A and be infectious for two weeks before any symptoms show and for a week after they appear. If you do have symptoms, many do not, they may include loss of appetite, diarrhea, jaundice, fever, fatigue and pain in the belly.
There is no treatment or cure for HAV, but there is a vaccine that is highly effective if you get it within two weeks of exposure. Only about 10 to 15 percent of HAV patients will have symptoms that last a long time, and rarely this damage to the liver may lead to liver failure and possibly a transplant.