Hepatitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the liver and its cause can be infectious, immune or toxic (for example by alcohol abuse or by certain drugs or poisons). The most common forms are known as hepatitis A, B and C. We offer some recommendations to travel safely if our child suffers from this disease.

The first, hepatitis A, usually occurs in environments with poor hygiene or by consuming contaminated water or eating shellfish from swampy waters or vegetables washed with said liquid.

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The hepatitis B is spread by parenteral or sexual contact; the hepatitis C spreads generally parenterally, by suffer contamination with infected blood, for example by transfusion. The transfusion pathway is very controlled today as specific blood tests are done to rule out infections, but before 1992 it was a common way of infection.

Both type A and type B hepatitis can be cured without medical intervention, that is, treatment may not be necessary to overcome it, although it is something that should be determined by a specialist. As for hepatitis C, in recent years numerous drugs have been developed that attack different enzymes that favor the development of the virus, and that achieve the cure of the patient.

In general, unless we have to transport medicines (and a copy of the prescription of the medicines) and there is no medical contraindication, there should be no special precautions when traveling by car with a child infected with the hepatitis virus. In the case of hepatitis B, your vaccine has been included in the vaccination calendar for some time and newborns are vaccinated; The case of hepatitis A is rare and occurs more in developing countries and its vaccine is usually recommended for people who handle food, who work in unhealthy environments, or who work with children.

For air travel, we must consult the doctor for advice, mainly due to the particular conditions of the plane itself: lower air pressure in the cabin; barotraumas; low humidity, or the immobility of spending several hours in the narrow seat of the plane. Therefore, prior consultation with the specialist is required for any patient suffering from the disease, in any of its variants.

Keep in mind that the disease is contagious, and depending on how it evolves, traveling by plane or other means of transport with more passengers can be completely inadvisable. Again, this will be assessed by the specialist for each case.