Availability of information on risk behaviors or exposures* associated with reported cases of acute hepatitis C virus infection — United States, 2020

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Availability of information on risk behaviors or exposures* associated with reported cases of acute hepatitis C virus infection — United States, 2020
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Source: CDC, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

* Case reports with at least one of the following risk behaviors/exposures reported 6 weeks to 6 months prior to symptom onset or documented seroconversion if asymptomatic: 1) injection drug use; 2) multiple sexual partners; 3) underwent surgery; 4) men who have sex with men; 5) sexual contact with suspected/confirmed hepatitis C case; 6) sustained a percutaneous injury; 7) household contact with suspected/confirmed hepatitis C case; 8) occupational exposure to blood; 9) dialysis, and 10) transfusion. Reported cases may include more than one risk behavior/exposure.

Health departments might conduct investigations of newly reported acute hepatitis C 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 4,798 case reports of acute hepatitis C received by CDC for 2020, data regarding risk behaviors or exposures were missing for 3,038 (63.3%) cases. At least one risk behavior or exposure was reported for 1,278 (26.6%) cases during the 6 weeks to 6 months before illness onset. More than one risk can be reported for each case.

Among risk behaviors and exposures identified, injection drug use was most commonly reported (66% of the 1,540 cases for which injection drug use information was available). Hepatitis C virus transmission associated with surgery, dialysis, or transfusion is extremely rare in the United States; thus, the reporting of these exposures might represent a history of recent exposure to these health care procedures and do not necessarily indicate these procedures were associated with HCV transmission.

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