Infections occur early in life in areas where sanitation is poor and living conditions are crowded.
With improved sanitation and hygiene, infections are delayed and consequently the number of persons susceptible to the disease increases.
Under these conditions explosive epidemics can arise from fecal contamination of a single source.
Although the level of virus shedding does not correlate with the severity of liver disease, feces are highly infectious and therefore extremely contagious during all of this period.
Hepatitis A is a viral disease, and as such, antibiotics are of no value in the treatment.
Complete recovery without therapy is generally the rule.