Table 1.3. Reported risk behaviors or exposures†# among reported cases of hepatitis A virus infection — United States, 2019

Table 1.3. Reported risk behaviors or exposures†# among reported cases of hepatitis A virus infection — United States, 2019
Table 1.3. Reported risk behaviors or exposures†# among reported cases of hepatitis A virus infection — United States, 2019
Source: CDC, Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.
† Reported cases may include more than one risk behavior/exposure.
# Risk behaviors/exposures data from one state was classified as ‘missing’ because of errors in reporting.
* Case reports with at least one of the following risk behaviors/exposures reported 2–6 weeks prior to symptom onset or documented seroconversion if asymptomatic: 1) injection drug use; 2) sexual, household, or other contact; 3) men who have sex with men; 4) travel to hepatitis A-endemic region.
§ Cases with more than one type of contact reported were categorized according to a hierarchy: 1) sexual contact; 2) household contact (nonsexual); and 3) other contact with hepatitis A case.
¶ A total of 11,824 hepatitis A cases were reported among males in 2019.

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Health departments might conduct investigations of newly reported hepatitis A cases to ascertain risk behaviors and exposures associated with infection. However, investigations might not be possible for all cases if patients are lost to follow-up or if health departments lack adequate resources for investigating all cases reported in their jurisdiction. Among the 18,846 case reports of hepatitis A received by CDC for 2019, data regarding risk behaviors or exposures were missing for 6,191 (32.9%) cases. At least one risk behavior or exposure was reported for 6,635 (32.5%) cases during the 2–6 weeks before illness onset.

Among risk behaviors or exposures identified, injection drug use was most commonly reported (46% of the 10,991 cases for which injection drug use information was available). Because of limitations on variables included in the surveillance system during 2019, multiple risk behaviors or exposures associated with hepatitis A could not be well-characterized, including homelessness, incarceration, noninjection drug use, and high-risk sexual practices that increase the risk for fecal–oral exposure to hepatitis A virus.