Hepatitis A. It’s highly contagious but will generally clear up with good self-care (rest and immune support). It doesn’t seem threatening: there’s a vaccine, and prevention is mostly good food hygiene and clean water. Lots of hand-washing, cleaning with bleach, and lots of healthy eating, water, and rest if you get it.
So why worry about an outbreak?
Highly contagious, it’s still easy to dismiss Hepatitis A because you hear about it spreading among at-risk populations, like the current homeless outbreak in California. But it puts your family and your neighbors at risk: the health care workers, volunteers, and government employees who work with those groups, and with a big outbreak comes a significant risk that it spreads further (the real risk is when a food service worker gets sick).
Symptoms of Hepatitis A are flu-like, with some yellowing of the skin and eyes as the liver is attacked. It is typically cleared by the body in a few months; you just need rest, healthy food (go easy on your liver while it fights!), and maybe some immune support like colloidal silver.
The Hepatitis A vaccine is highly effective, but that’s just measuring into early adulthood. Immunity (in general) can waver with age, as the immune system naturally gets weaker. It’s good to have, but don’t take unnecessary risks.
And while the current focus is on the Hepatitis A outbreak in California, freak events like Hurricane Harvey can spread illness. (It only takes one sick employee somewhere busy to cause an epidemic, which happens a few times a year in the US).
Take care with preventative steps, watch for flu-like symptoms (they cover so many things!), and take the illness seriously. Stay home, rest, and make sure you’ve got immune support with colloidal silver.
