What Are the Symptoms of Hepatitis A?

The CDC says that if hepatitis A symptoms develop, they usually appear 2 to 7 weeks after exposure and usually last less than 2 months, although some people can feel sick for as long as 6 months, and that you can have hepatitis A without any symptoms. It lists symptoms that can include dark urine or clay-colored stools, diarrhea, feeling tired, fever, joint pain, loss of appetite, nausea, stomach pain, throwing up, and yellow skin or eyes, known as jaundice. For clinicians, the CDC puts the average incubation period at 28 days, with a range of 15 to 50 days.

The CDC says hepatitis A is transmitted primarily through the fecal-oral route, which can happen through close person-to-person contact with an infected person, sexual contact with an infected person, or eating or drinking contaminated food or water. The FDA says outbreaks of hepatitis A and norovirus infections have been linked to fresh and frozen berries in the United States and globally, and that while no such outbreaks associated with domestic berries have been reported in 35 years, outbreaks have been linked to imported fresh and frozen berries. In 2023, the FDA and CDC investigated a hepatitis A outbreak linked to frozen organic strawberries imported from Baja California, Mexico. In 2003, a CDC report described an outbreak among patrons of a Pennsylvania restaurant with approximately 555 identified cases and three deaths, in which a preliminary case-control study implicated green onions as the source.

The CDC adult immunization schedule notes say any person who is not fully vaccinated and requests hepatitis A vaccination can receive it without identifying a risk factor. They also list risk factors that make vaccination recommended, including chronic liver disease, HIV infection, injection or noninjection drug use, and experiencing homelessness.