Hepatitis A, a viral infection, is common among school children ages 18 years of age and under. There were 878 reported cases of Hepatitis A in this age group in Houston for the years 1996-2000 compared to 555 cases in people 19 years of age and older. Many of those cases occurred in August, September and February following school vacations. Hepatitis A is caused by a virus that is passed in the feces of an infected person. To acquire the illness, a person must ingest (swallow) the virus, usually by eating or drinking contaminated food or water.

One risk factor is travel to underdeveloped countries and not exercising caution when eating or drinking. The symptoms of the disease range from very mild ones to fatigue, anorexia, nausea and abdominal pain, yellowing of the eyes, skin and darkening of the urine. In 1996-2000, the greatest number of cases (415 cases or 47 percent) occurred in the 5-9 age group, an age group that may not observe good personnel hygiene. Males comprise a slight majority of cases (453 or 51.6 percent). There were 425 female cases (48.4 percent). The race/ethnic breakdown are as follows: Hispanic 84.7 percent (744 cases), Black 5.9 percent (52 cases), White 4.8 percent (42 cases), Asian 1.5 percent (5 cases), other 0.5 percent (5 cases), unknown 2.6 percent (23 cases).