Hepatitis A Outbreaks in European Homosexual Men.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a small RNA, non-enveloped agent predominantly transmitted via the fecal/oral route through person-to-person contact or contaminated food and water. The mean incubation period is 28 days (range: 15-50). Acute hepatitis A is always self-limited and very rarely fatal. Moreover, it never progresses to chronicity. Acutely infected persons are most likely to transmit HAV before the onset of jaundice, when viral particle concentration in stool is highest.