ABSTRACT
This chapter provides state-of-the-art overviews on foodborne diseases caused by Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) in relation to their etiology, biology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Viral hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver due to a viral infection, was initially considered as one disease. Transmission studies done during the mid-twentieth century indicated the existence of at least two distinct transmissible agents as being responsible for this condition, and these were provisionally named hepatitis A and hepatitis B. HAV virions are small particles with icosahedral symmetry and a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome surrounded by a protein capsid. HAV isolates show a significant genetic heterogeneity. They were classified based on sequences of a 168-nucleotide-long segment of HAV RNA at the VP1/2A junction. HAV is excreted in the feces of infected persons, and spreads primarily through the fecal-oral route. This can occur either through direct person-to-person contact or through consumption of food or water contaminated with feces of an infected person.
