Because of the long incubation period (up to 6 months) and typically asymptomatic course of acute hepatitis B and C infection, it is likely that only a fraction of such outbreaks that occurred have been detected, and reporting of outbreaks detected and investigated by state and local health departments is not required. Therefore, the numbers reported here may greatly underestimate the number of outbreak-associated cases and the number of at-risk persons notified for screening. Hepatitis C (total 22 outbreaks, 239 outbreak-associated cases, >90,400 at-risk persons notified for screening).
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CDC: Healthcare-Associated Hepatitis B and C Outbreaks Reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2008-2014
