On Monday, Pima County officials announced that “there have been 173 confirmed cases of Hepatitis A and 161 cases attributed to the current outbreak with 121 resulting in hospitalization,” since November 2018.
“The recent outbreak In Pima County HAV has surpassed the annual totals for the past S years,” wrote County Health director Marcy Flanagan, in a memo. “Through case investigations conducted by Health Department epidemiologists and disease investigators, it was determined that the primary means of transmission is through close contact with an infected person, typically among people experiencing homelessness and/or people using Illicit drugs. While there have been cases due to contaminated food and International travel, they are not associated with the current outbreak.”
The outbreak prompted the Health Department to take exposure control measures as well as prevention and outreach interventions, including 106 vaccination clinics.
Pima County advises that the vaccine is especially recommended for:
• People who are experiencing homelessness
• People who use injection and non-injection illicit drugs
• People who are traveling to countries where hepatitis A is common
• Men who have sex with men
• People who have been recently incarcerated
• People who live with, or have sex with, someone who has hepatitis A
• People with chronic liver disease, such as cirrhosis, alcoholic liver disease, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C