Figure 2.1 – Acute – Number of Cases & Estimated Infections

At a glance

After a decade of stable rates, the rate of acute hepatitis B decreased in 2020 and remained stable in 2021 and 2022.
Hepatitis B Surveillance

Number of reported cases* and estimated infections† of acute hepatitis B — United States, 2015–2022

Figure 2.1 Data
Number of reported cases* and estimated infections† of acute hepatitis B — United States, 2015–2022...
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Source: CDC, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

* Reported confirmed cases. For the case definition, see Acute Hepatitis B.

† 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.

Summary

During 2022, the number of reported cases of acute hepatitis B was 2,126, which corresponds to 13,800 estimated infections after adjusting for case under ascertainment and underreporting1. After a decade of stable rates, the rate of acute hepatitis B decreased in 2020 and remained stable in 2021 and 2022. Although changes in health care-seeking behavior and testing during the COVID-19 pandemic could have affected recent trends, the stability of the rate through 2022 suggests some reduction in hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission, which may be unrelated to disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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About Division of Viral Hepatitis
  1. 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.