What is hepatitis a?

My little brother might have Hepatitis but he got the shots when he was a baby though? What's happening?

• My brother of 12 years old has been experiencing flu-like symptoms - fever, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, coughing, and a runny nose. He is all good now after four days of being sick with those symptoms with a normal temperature and such. My dad gave him 2 Tylenol Extra Strength Fever Reducer/Pain Reliever Caplets (Acetaminophen) every 4 hours like the directions said on the bottle & 3 Antibiotic Pill (Amoxicillin) a day (one after each meal). However, on the second day, I seemed to have caught it from touching his blanket and stuff. Just a simple flu though right? No, not anymore. I am now pretty worried. The doctor just called about my brother, who my dad took on the second day to see what was up and got some of my brother's blood to test and to have medication prescribed for my brother's illness. The doctor said that there was something wrong with the liver chemical levels and such with my brother and that he might have a form of Hepatitis! He asked if my brother was born in the US - YES he was; he asked if my brother ingested any alcohol - NO he didn't; he asked if he got all the Hepatitis A, B, & C shots when he was a baby - YES he got all the immunizations! So how can my brother have some sort of possibility of getting hepatitis? He does not have any jaundice or itching skin of any sort and looks perfectly fine. He has no abdominal pain either. We live in a very clean, upscale surburban home and area with clean water and food. My brother likes to chew on his fingernails and fingers sometimes though. He has diarrhea a lot too (not just this one time for this illness) and a lot of nosebleeds. Could the doctor might have incorrect results? Could it be that the test happened to be at a bad timing after my brother took some of the Tylenol Caplets which made the test inaccurate? Or could it be that my brother actually does have Hepatitis and I caught that from him?!?!

• Answer:

  Can't answer your question however you should be aware that there is no vaccine for hepatitis C so your brother could have only received vaccinations for hepatitis B (which is required) and hepatitis A. It is unlikely that the Tylenol affected the test. The doctor can give you more info as to what is going on and what treatment is necessary.