Hepatitis A Outbreak Reported In NYC

NEW YORK, NY — Chlamydia and gonorrhea aren't the only STDs making a serious comeback this year in NYC. City health officials warned Friday that dozens of cases of hepatitis A — 46 cases, to be exact — were reported across the five boroughs between January and August 2017. And only around a fourth of the New Yorkers infected had recently traveled to hepatitis A-prone countries, officials said.

The previous norm in NYC? Just three cases of non-traveler hepatitis A per year. Compare that to 36 in the first eight months of 2017.

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Hepatitis A can jump from from an infected person to a non-infected person when the poop of the former comes into contact with the mouth of the latter, according to the NYC Health Department.

The virus is often transferred when "someone is exposed to stool during sexual activity," health officials warn. It can also "be carried on an infected person’s hands and spread through direct and indirect contact, such as by eating food that was handled by an infected person."

Hepatitis A infections are brutal, but they usually clear up within a couple months. However, in rare cases, the disease can cause liver failure — and death. Within the past year, at least 14 people have died from hepatitis A in southeast Michigan alone.

No one has died yet in the NYC outbreak, according to local health officials. Of the 46 victims through August, 15 were hospitalized, but have since recovered.

The patients ranged in age from 19 to 55 years old. Almost all were men who "had sex with men or had sexual contact with men," according to the Health Department. And the sole female patient said she'd had sexual contact with a bisexual male.

(To read more about this year's unusual STD surge — and see maps of the most infested neighborhoods — check out our recent report on rising chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis rates in NYC, the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1980s, and the possible factors driving the trend.)

Also important to know: Only three of the city's 46 hepatitis A patients reported having been vaccinated.

So the Health Department says it now plans to expand its "Just a Little Prick" vaccination campaign, which targets gay men via dating apps and social media. The city also passed out thousands of physical postcards during Pride week.

“Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable disease. Men who have sex with men who are unvaccinated — and their providers — need to be alert to this emerging risk," Demetre Daskalakis, a deputy commissioner at the Health Department, said Friday. "The clear call to action is to get vaccinated as soon as possible."

No health insurance? No problem: The city's eight Sexual Health Clinics offer hepatitis A vaccines (and a bunch of other STD services) for "low or no cost." Find your nearest clinic here.

The big hepatitis A outbreak of 2017 doesn't appear to be exclusive to NYC. According to the city's Health Department:

Since June 2016, there have been ongoing outbreaks of hepatitis A among [men who have sex or sexual contact with other men] in 16 Western European countries, and several US jurisdictions have reported unusual increases in cases or outbreaks of this disease.

Symptoms of the disease start to appear around two to seven weeks after you're exposed, health officials say — usually about a month in. You may notice your eyes and/or skin start to turn yellow and your body become fatigued. Symptoms can also include stomach pain, fever, loss of appetite, nausea, dark-colored pee, light-colored poop and diarrhea.

Once you get a positive blood test back for hepatitis A, there's not much you can do to treat it. Symptoms can last up to six months, and — in around 1 percent of cases — can be fatal. However, city health officials say "most people fully recover on their own" in less than two months "by resting and not drinking alcohol."

Doctors also recommend that hep A patients avoid taking any drugs known to damage the liver, such as acetaminophen or Tylenol.

It's obviously preferable, though, to avoid an infection in the first place. Aside from getting vaccinated, here's what you can do to keep yourself safe, via the Health Department website:

• Wash your hands with soap regularly, especially after using the bathroom or changing diapers.
• Avoiding sexual practices that may result in hand or mouth exposure to stool. (Condoms prevent other STDs, including HIV, but may not prevent hepatitis A).
• Use bottled water or boiling tap water for one minute if you are in a country where hepatitis A is common. Also, avoid eating shellfish that may have come from a contaminated water source in those countries.

Lead photo by NYC Health