Abstract

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a common communicable disease acquired from feco- oral route. It is endemic in fast developing urbanization areas. Poor sanitation is making this disease stay despite good vaccine availability. It may present with a range of clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic infection to fulminant hepatitis. Aims: To study the clinical profile of children with Hepatitis A infection. Materials and Methods: It’s a retrospective analysis of children having Acute HAV diagnosed by IgM hep A in 6 months to 12 years of age in last one year in tertiary care hospital. Clinical features, complications were studied. Results: 27 cases were enrolled in our study. Mean age was 6.5 ± 3.9 years out of 27 cases. Fever (92.6%), gastrointestinal complaints (59.3%) and lethargy (37%) were the common presenting symptoms. 12 patients (44.4%) presented with irritability and altered sensorium. Physical findings were hepatomegaly (96.2%) and jaundice (100%) in all children. More than 4-fold increase in level of Aspartate transaminase and Alanine transaminase were noted in almost all cases. Prothrombin time was deranged in 12(44.4%) cases. Serum Ammonia was raised in 8(27%) patients. 8 cases (27%) developed fulminant hepatic failure out of which 2 cases had co-infection with dengue, 1 case had a history of consumption of nimesulide and 1 case had chronic liver disease & 7 cases (25.9%) succumbed to death. Rest 20 (74.1%) recovered completely. Conclusion: Though hepatitis A infection is a self-limiting disease, presence of co-infection, underlying liver disease and consumption of certain drugs can cause severe complications. Hence, all cases should be followed up till complete recovery.

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