Number of reported cases* of acute hepatitis B virus infection and estimated infections† — United States, 2013-2020

Number of reported cases* of acute hepatitis B virus infection and estimated infections† — United States, 2013-2020

Downloads of this figure: PDF  PPT

Source: CDC, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.
* Reported confirmed cases. For the case definition, see Acute Hepatitis B.† The number of estimated viral hepatitis infections was determined by multiplying the number of reported cases that met the classification criteria for a confirmed case by a factor that adjusted for underascertainment and underreporting. The 95% bootstrap confidence intervals for the estimated number of infections are displayed in the Appendix.

The number of acute hepatitis B cases reported each year in the United States has remained relatively stable during 2013–2019. During 2020, the number of reported cases of acute hepatitis B was 2,157, which corresponds to 14,000 estimated infections after adjusting for case underascertainment and underreporting. The number of reported cases in 2020 represent a 32% decrease from the number reported in 2019 (3,192 reported cases of acute hepatitis B).

The sudden decline in 2020 is likely attributed to COVID-19 pandemic related disruptions in healthcare access and reduction in the number of persons tested for hepatitis B virus infection. Furthermore, the ability of viral hepatitis surveillance staff to investigate and accurately determine acute case status was limited due to participation in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hepatitis B Figures and Tables

Source:

  1. Klevens RM, Liu, S, Roberts H, et al. Estimating acute viral hepatitis infections from nationally reported cases. Am J Public Health 2014;104:482. PMC3953761.