Public health officials see rise in hepatitis cases

BATON ROUGE (AP ) — Data from the Louisiana Department of Health shows cases of Hepatitis A have been continuing to increase across the state.
There have been 375 reported cases since the outbreak began in January 2018 through July 18, 2019, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports .
The outbreak is mostly affecting drug users and homeless people, said Louisiana Bureau of Community Preparedness Medical Director Frank Welch.
“It’s become endemic in a certain population,” Welch said. “It’s in this subgroup of people and it keeps passing around.”
“Oftentimes when we talk about a public health disease with these particular risk factors, people will say, ‘That’s not my problem. I don’t have that,’” Welch said.
“But once outbreaks get large enough, we get spillover in the general community.”
Welch says the infection has been making people sicker than normal.
About 60% of infected people were hospitalized whereas the typical hospitalization rate is around 25%.
The state bought 15,000 Hepatitis A vaccinations to limit the outbreak among homeless populations and have distributed about 8,000.
Hepatitis A is a liver infection that’s often spread when people use the bathroom and then don’t wash their hands.