Your provider can tell you if you have hepatitis A by taking a sample of your blood. A blood test for a specific antibody called an IgM antibody can tell if you are infected with hepatitis A. Your provider will also talk to you about your symptoms, which may include the following:

• Yellowing of the skin or eyes (called jaundice)
• Feeling very tired
• Stomach pain
• Not feeling very hungry
• Dark urine or light-colored stools
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Low-grade fever
• Joint pain

Though some people do not have any symptoms, hepatitis A usually makes people feel sick:

• Adults with hepatitis A are often too ill to work for up to a month.
• People with hepatitis A sometimes have to be hospitalized (up to 1 person in 5).
• In rare cases, people die as a result of hepatitis A (about 3 to 6 deaths per 1,000 cases).