The Vermont Department of Health has declared a statewide outbreak of hepatitis A — with 12 cases reported over the last year.
The 2019 numbers mark a 400% increase of hepatitis A in Vermont. The previous five years averaged three cases of the infection per year.
Health Commissioner Mark Levine said that though the outbreak is still in the early stages, trends suggest that it could get much worse.
“We’ve been anticipating an outbreak of hepatitis A cases here from monitoring how this has evolved in other states,” Levine said in a statement.
Vermont is now the 30th state to declare an outbreak of the disease, following neighbor states like Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Hepatitis A is a liver infection with symptoms that range from a mild infection to a serious illness that can result in liver failure and death. It is spread through person-to-person contact, primarily through the fecal-oral route, according to the health department.
Officials report that hand washing can significantly limit the spread of the disease, though vaccination is the best way to prevent it. Levine said a one-time vaccination can reduce the risk of hepatitis A by 95%.
“We are working closely with health care providers to ensure that Vermonters are vaccinated, and with our community partners to get the word out to people who are at high risk of infection, some of whom can be difficult to reach,” Levine said.
About half of Vermont’s counties have reported cases of the disease, though it is concentrated in the southern half of the state.
Of the 12 Vermonters infected, seven were hospitalized. There have been no reported deaths.
The health department noted that risk factors for infection include people with a history of drug use, people experiencing homelessness, people who were recently incarcerated, men who have sex with men, and people with chronic liver disease, including hepatits B and C.
Hepatitis A, though potentially serious, is typically a short-term infection lasting only a few weeks or months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hepatitis B, conversely, tends to last longer, and is spread by bodily fluids of an infected person. Hepatitis C is spread only through direct blood contact.
Health department officials have reported that case numbers for hepatitis B are also on the rise in Vermont, with nine cases reported in the last year, in part because many of same groups are at risk.
Officials are offering free hepatitis A vaccine clinics in places that serve high-risk individuals, like shelters, correctional facilities, syringe services programs and meal sites.
