Hepatitis A can cause a short-term (or acute) illness, which normally lasts ten to 14 days. It has no long-term, or chronic, phase. You can normally expect to get better without any special treatment, and once you have had hepatitis A you cannot get it again.

Hepatitis A is spread by contact with infected human faeces (stools, excrement). Contamination of food, drinking water and ice cubes is a common route of transmission, but it can also be passed on during sex, particularly by rimming (oral-anal contact).

You might be sick because of hepatitis A for longer if you have HIV, and having hepatitis A may also mean that you have to stop taking your HIV drugs or other medicines for a time. This is because many medicines are broken down by the liver, and when the liver is inflamed because of hepatitis A, it is unable to process medicines properly, meaning that your risk of side-effects is increased.