Hepatitis A vaccine

Typically include:

• Fever
• Malaise
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhoea
• Nausea
• Abdominal discomfort and
• Jaundice (yellowing discolouration of the skin and sclera of the eyes, dark urine and pale stool).

Hepatitis A infection does not cause chronic liver disease but it can cause debilitating symptoms and rarely fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure), which is often fatal.

• Maintain good personal, environmental and food hygiene, and immunisat is the effective way to prevent Hepatitis A.

The Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Centre for Health Protection suggests the following persons are recommended to have hepatitis A vaccination:

• 1. Travellers to endemic areas of hepatitis A
• 2. Persons with clotting factor disorders receiving plasma-derived replacement clotting factors
• 3. Persons with chronic liver disease
• 4. Men who have sex with men