Hepatitis A Virus

A “rapid response to hepatitis A exposure” helped minimize the risk for transmission and prevent an HAV outbreak among incarcerated persons in a Los Angeles County jail, according to an investigation in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Nearly twice as many hepatitis A virus-related deaths were reported in the United States from 2016 to 2022 compared with the previous 6 years, with individuals who use drugs or experience homelessness and unstable housing most at risk.

Patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases should be screened for tuberculosis, hepatitis B and other infections before starting disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, according to new guidelines published by EULAR.

In this edition, AGA speaks out on controversial NordICC data; first US patient enrolled in phase 3 trial of obefazimod; ‘unprecedented’ shift in hepatitis A outbreaks and more.

Recent and ongoing outbreaks associated with person-to-person transmission have marked a shift in hepatitis A virus epidemiology in the United States, according to data published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

WHO has raised the monkeypox outbreak to a “moderate” risk to global public health, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said “there may have been undetected transmission for some time.”

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month in the United States, and May 19 is Hepatitis Testing Day.

Children who live in states that require them to be vaccinated against hepatitis A virus before entering school or child care are more likely to initiate and complete HAV vaccination, according to data presented at IDWeek.

A hepatitis A virus outbreak among patients and health care workers at a community hospital was traced back to an undiagnosed patient with a history of homelessness and substance abuse, researchers reported.

The average hospitalization costs for a U.S. patient with outbreak-associated hepatitis A virus infection was more than $16,000 in 2017, according to an analysis by CDC researchers.