As of June 21, there had been 11,776 hospitalizations and 194 deaths stemming from hepatitis A cases in the country. The outbreaks have been particularly severe in West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida, which have all reported more than 1,000 cases. Kentucky has seen 4,715 cases in an outbreak that started in August 2017 — the highest number of any state.
California and Utah are the only two states that have declared an end to their outbreaks, in April 2018 and February 2019, respectively.
Twenty-two states are in the middle of outbreaks.
Hepatitis A is a communicable disease of the liver transmitted from person to person. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea and jaundice. The CDC recommends all children be vaccinated against hepatitis A at the age of 1, and it recommends the postexposure prophylaxis for unvaccinated people who have been exposed to hepatitis A in the last two weeks.
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