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Number of reported cases* and estimated infections† of acute hepatitis C — United States, 2015–2022
Source: CDC, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.
* Reported confirmed cases. For the case definition, see Acute Hepatitis C.
† 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.
After over a decade of consecutive annual increases in acute hepatitis C, the number of acute hepatitis C cases declined for the first time in 2022. During 2022, a total of 4,848 acute cases were reported, corresponding to 67,400 estimated infections after adjusting for case underascertainment and underreporting.1 The number of cases reported during 2022 corresponded to a 3.5% decrease from the 5,023 cases reported during 2021 and a 99% increase from the 2,436 cases reported during 2015.
While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health care access and health department surveillance capacity during 2020–2022, any anticipated reductions in the number of reported acute hepatitis C cases were likely offset by a change to the acute hepatitis C case definition in 2020. The new case definition was designed to better characterize cases classified as acute hepatitis C (see Technical Notes).
- Figure 3.1. Number of reported cases and estimated infections of acute hepatitis C — United States, 2015–2022
- Figure 3.2. Rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2021–2022
- Figure 3.3. Rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2022
- Figure 3.4. Rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by age group — United States, 2007–2022
- Figure 3.5. Rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by sex — United States, 2007–2022
- Figure 3.6. Rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by race/ethnicity — United States, 2007–2022
- Figure 3.7. Availability of information on risk behaviors or exposures associated with reported cases of acute hepatitis C — United States, 2022
- Figure 3.8. Number of newly reported chronic hepatitis C cases by sex and age — United States, 2022
- Figure 3.9. Rates of deaths with hepatitis C listed as a cause of death among residents, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2022
- Table 3.1. Numbers and rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2018–2022
- Table 3.2. Numbers and rates of reported cases of acute hepatitis C, by demographic characteristics — United States, 2018–2022
- Table 3.3. Reported risk behaviors or exposures among reported cases of acute hepatitis C — United States, 2022
- Table 3.4. Number of newly reported cases of perinatal hepatitis C, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2022
- Table 3.5. Number and rate of newly reported cases of chronic hepatitis C, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2022
- Table 3.6. Number and rate of newly reported cases of chronic hepatitis C, by demographic characteristics — United States, 2022
- Table 3.7. Numbers and rates of deaths with hepatitis C listed as a cause of death among residents, by state or jurisdiction — United States, 2018–2022
- Table 3.8. Numbers and rates of deaths with hepatitis C listed as a cause of death among residents, by demographic characteristics — United States, 2018–2022
Source:
- 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.