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Hepatitis A Cases Are Surging This Year In Florida

Hepatitis Virus
Nephron
/
Wikimedia Commons
A magnification of the autoimmune hepatitis virus.

With 77 cases added last week, Florida has reported nearly three times as many cases of hepatitis A in 2019 as it did in all of last year.

As of Saturday, the outbreak had resulted in 1,636 reported cases this year, up from 548 in 2018, according to information posted on the Florida Department of Health website.

In the four previous years, the highest total was 276 cases in 2017. Pasco County continued to report the most cases in the state with 314, while Pinellas County had 287.

The First Coast is also seeing an impact. St. Johns County had 5 cases, Duval County had 4 and Clay had 2.

In 2018, Duval and St. Johns counties had 2 cases each for the entire year, while Clay had none. 

Orange County had 129 cases, Volusia County had 128 cases, Hillsborough County had 103 cases, and Marion County had 93 cases, the numbers show.

Credit Florida Department of Health

Hepatitis A, which can cause liver damage, can be spread through such things as food or drinks that have been contaminated with fecal matter from people with the disease.

Health officials have urged Floridians to get vaccinated against the disease.

Photo used under Creative Commons license.