Hepatitis A

September 2007     View PDF     En español

How do you test for hepatitis A?

If you think that you’ve been exposed to HAV or other hepatitis virus, talk to your doctor as soon as possible and explain why. Your doctor can diagnose HAV by doing a physical exam, liver function tests (LFTs), and a blood test called IgM anti-HAV. This test will check to see if you have an immune response (called antibodies) to HAV. If it comes back negative, it’s likely you’ve never had HAV. You may then want to consider getting the HAV vaccine.

If you do have antibodies, then you’ve been exposed to HAV. The LFTs check the blood levels of certain chemicals in your body. If these results are not normal, then it shows your liver is not working properly indicating a problem like HAV, or other infection. Rarely, your doctor may have to take a sample of the liver with a needle and check for signs of infection.