Hepatitis A: what are the symptoms?

- Loss of interest in food, especially fatty food
- Distaste for cigarettes (if you're a smoker)
- Loss of ability to drink any alcohol
- Feeling unwell
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Fever

Once infection is established, symptoms are:

- Nausea, with or without vomiting.
- Discomfort or pain in the right upper quarter of the abdomen.
- Urine that is an unusual dark reddish-brown.
- Faeces unusually pale in colour.
- A yellowish tinge to the whites of the eyes and the skin.

These symptoms can last from a week to months, depending on the response of the person infected. Generally, adults experience worse symptoms for a longer period. Pregnant women are at slightly increased risk of severe hepatitis A.

Complications
A small number of people (approximately 1 in 100) who get any one of the viral hepatitis viruses may experience early severe liver damage at the outset of the illness, in which much of the liver can be destroyed, and the person goes into liver failure. This is known as "fulminant hepatitis". Signs that this may be occurring include drowsiness that progresses to coma, and bleeding, usually in the gut.

This is an extremely serious situation that will require the person to be cared for in an intensive care unit.