STD HEPATITIS A: SEXUAL TRANSMISSION CAN ALSO OCCUR VIA THE FECAL-ORAL ROUTE
Infected children who are not toilet trained and are around other children—for example, in a daycare center—can spread the infection to other children and adults. Family and household contacts of those who are infected frequently become infected themselves. In addition, institutional staffs, such as nursing home employees, may also be at higher risk.
Sexual transmission can also occur via the fecal-oral route. A person can become infected with hepatitis A through oral-anal contact (called analingus or rimming) or by stimulating a partner’s anus with the fingers and then not washing the hands before placing them in the mouth or preparing food. Occasionally outbreaks of hepatitis A occur among men who have sex with other men in urban settings. Other types of sexual contact are not thought to be a method of transmission. Studies of men who have sex with other men have shown that the more sexual partners a man has, the more likely he is to become infected with hepatitis A. This is true for any oral-anal contact with multiple partners.
At various times during infection, the saliva and blood of an infected person may also contain the virus, but it is very rare that transmission takes place through contact with saliva or blood. Although occasional outbreaks among persons who use intravenous drugs may be due to blood transmission, the more common method of transmission, via the fecal-oral route, may actually be the cause in these cases as well. Blood banks screen for all types of hepatitis, so transmission through blood transfusion is rare.
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