180+ chief medical officers to know | 2025

Hepatitis A Cases Reach A Three-year High, CDC Says

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Cases of acute viral hepatitis A so far this year have reached a three-year high for local cases and an eight-year high for imported cases, with many of those who have been diagnosed with the disease being young people, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.

CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said that as of Sunday, 56 local cases of acute viral hepatitis A had been reported so far this year.

Most of those diagnosed were men at 76.8 percent, while the 30-to-39 age group had the largest case count at 46.4 percent of the total, followed by the 40-to-49 age group at 21.4 percent, Lee said.

There have been 17 imported cases reported so far this year, she said.

Cases of acute viral hepatitis A in previous years have typically numbered about 100, but there have been 73 cases so far this year, many among younger people living in urban areas, CDC Deputy Director-General and spokesman Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.

The increased case count is likely associated with more young people traveling abroad after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the hepatitis A virus back and spreading it in local communities, Lo said, adding that cases have also increased in other countries, including Japan, China and India.

"A trend with cases this year is that the transmission routes are more diverse, including through consumption of contaminated raw food, such as salad and seafood, as well as through intimate contact and indirect environmental contact," he said.

A cluster of four cases was identified last month — three men in their 30s and a woman in her 50s, who in March developed symptoms including jaundice, loss of appetite, nausea and fatigue, he said.

All four had elevated levels of markers indicating liver inflammation, he said.

Contact tracing found that two of the men lived together, while the third was a coworker of one of them and the woman was a janitor at the same workplace who sometimes did not wear gloves while cleaning, Lo said.

Acute viral hepatitis A is mainly transmitted through the fecal-oral route, the CDC said.

People can get infected from eating together or having intimate contact with an infected person, or by touching a contaminated surface or eating contaminated undercooked food, it said, adding that thorough washing of hands can help prevent infection.

The centers urges people who have been contacted as an identified close contact to cooperate with their local health department, Lo said.

They should get a post-exposure hepatitis A vaccine to prevent infection, he said, adding that studies suggest a hepatitis A vaccine received within 14 days of exposure can provide 95 percent protection against infection.

Meanwhile, there were 9,978 hospital visits for COVID-19 reported last week, with 34 severe cases and six deaths confirmed, Lee said.

The weekly case count has increased for five consecutive weeks, she said.

The current wave of COVID-19 infections is expected to peak next month, but whether it would reach a sharp peak or plateau for weeks remains to be seen, Lo said.

CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said that among the severe cases reported last week, the youngest was an 11-month-old who was initially diagnosed with a common cold at a clinic, but later referred to an emergency room after he developed a severe cough, difficulty breathing, croup and low blood pressure.

After being admitted to an intensive care unit and being treated for a week, the boy was discharged, Lin said.

People, especially young children, should immediately seek medical attention if they develop signs of severe complications, such as persistent fever lasting longer than 48 hours, chills, cold sweat, shortness of breath, bluish-purple skin, loss of consciousness, loss of appetite or lower urine production, he said.

The CDC encourages people to get vaccinated with a JN.1-adapted vaccine as soon as possible for better protection against infection before the peak of virus activity next month, Lo said.

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