Idiopathic autoimmune chronic hepatitis triggered by hepatitis A.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is a well-recognized cause of acute hepatitis with jaundice in adults. However, chronic sequelae of HAV infection are so rare and so poorly defined that their existence remains speculative. In this report we describe a middle-aged woman in whom serologically defined acute hepatitis A appeared to trigger the onset of autoimmune chronic active hepatitis. This and two previously reported cases suggest that in certain individuals, presumably with a genetic predisposition to the development of autoimmune hepatitis, HAV infection may be the precipitating event in the pathogenesis of this disorder.