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. 2018 Nov 2;67(43):1208-1210.
doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6743a3.

Hepatitis A Virus Outbreaks Associated with Drug Use and Homelessness - California, Kentucky, Michigan, and Utah, 2017

Monique Foster, Sumathi Ramachandran, Katie Myatt, Danielle Donovan, Susan Bohm, Jay Fiedler, Bree Barbeau, Jim Collins, Douglas Thoroughman, Eric McDonald, Jonathan Ballard, Jeffrey Eason, Cynthia Jorgensen

Hepatitis A Virus Outbreaks Associated with Drug Use and Homelessness - California, Kentucky, Michigan, and Utah, 2017

Monique Foster et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. .

Abstract

During 2017, CDC received 1,521 reports of acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections from California, Kentucky, Michigan, and Utah; the majority of infections were among persons reporting injection or noninjection drug use or homelessness. Investigations conducted by local and state health departments indicated that direct person-to-person transmission of HAV infections was occurring, differing from other recent, large HAV outbreaks attributed to consumption of contaminated commercial food products. Outbreaks with direct HAV transmission among persons reporting drug use or homelessness signals a shift in HAV infection epidemiology in the United States, and vaccination of these populations at high risk can prevent future outbreaks.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

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