Hepatitis A Outbreak Continues Across Upper Cumberland

Upper Cumberland health officials are monitoring a growing number of Hepatitis A cases across the state.

Debbie Hoy is a registered nurse and community disease director for the Tennessee Department of Health’s Upper Cumberland district. She said numbers across the state have climbed since the outbreak began in 2017.

“Since December 2017, the state as a whole has seen over 1,250 cases and it started in the Nashville and Mid-Cumberland area,” Hoy said. “It started in the fall with us in the Upper Cumberland and we now have greater than 100 cases, and there is an increased percentage of those from Putnam County.”

The number of cases in the Upper Cumberland has increased since November’s total of 25 after the virus was virtually non-existent in the region last summer.

Hoy said the rapid spread of Hepatitis A can be blamed on a variety of factors, with drug use being the most common.

“What we’re finding with this particular outbreak situation is about 70 percent of the people are using recreational drugs, both IV drugs and street-type drugs and sharing of the drug paraphernalia,” Hoy said. “Then we have close contact of these individuals who are then shedding the virus and passing it along from one person to another.”

The virus affects the liver with common symptoms being yellow skin and/or eyes, dark urine, and white feces.

Hoy notes that those with Hepatitis A can carry the virus for up to four weeks.