Jakarta: About 80 percent of Jakarta`s adult residents were once infected with Hepatitis A, an expert says.
"We did research on Jakarta`s adult residents and about 80 percent of them had contracted the virus," Unggul Budihusodo, a health consultant from the Medical School of the University of Indonesia, said Thursday.
He explained the Hepatitis A virus was transmitted through contaminated food and drink. After experiencing Hepatitis A, patients usually retained antibodies that protected the patient from another infection and the antibodies could be detected although the infection occurred long ago.
Unggul said Hepatitis A patients could recover quickly only with total rest, but the virus could turn chronic if the patient had already been infected with other viruses, such as Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C, which had no symptoms.
He added that Hepatitis A was only found in countries with poor sanitation.
IANS
