Hepatitis B cases up 16% in Nassau for 2022, according to state data

The number of newly reported hepatitis B cases increased by 16% in Nassau County in 2022, giving the county the highest rate in the state outside New York City, newly released state data finds.

Yet almost all hepatitis B cases statewide are “chronic,” meaning they were not contracted within the previous six months. The reason for the increase could be “more testing, and more awareness of the need for testing for people with risk factors, and with any signs or symptoms of chronic hepatitis,” said Dr. David Hirschwerk, medical director of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and an infectious disease specialist.

There were 549 newly-reported hepatitis B cases in Nassau in 2022, according to a state Department of Health report released on Wednesday. That’s up from the 473 listed in the 2021 report. In Suffolk, the number of cases rose slightly, from 240 to 247. Statewide outside New York City, there were 1,984 cases, up 10% from 1,809.

Testing increased after dropping during 2020 because of COVID-19, health department spokeswoman Danielle De Souza said in an email.

There were 5,346 cases in New York City in 2021, the latest year for which there is data.

The rate per 100,000 people in Nassau in 2022 was 39.4, compared with 17.4 in New York outside New York City and 16.2 in Suffolk.

Hepatitis B, which can cause severe liver damage and in some cases death, is spread through sexual contact, sharing needles and items such as toothbrushes or razors, and direct contact with blood or open sores.

Vaccination against hepatitis B is mandatory for New York schoolchildren, and 84% of infants born outside New York City received a hepatitis B vaccine within three days of birth in 2022, according to the new report.

Hirschwerk noted that most New Yorkers newly reported to have hepatitis B were 40 or older.

“Some of these individuals may have been born in areas where the vaccine either was not as available or was not as much emphasized,” he said.

The vaccine is much more effective when given during childhood than during adulthood, he said.

Four states do not have childhood hepatitis B vaccination requirements.

Hepatitis B rates are much higher in Asia and Africa. Seven of 10 cases in the United States are among immigrants, CDC data shows.

Nearly 35% of new cases in New York outside New York City were among Asians and Pacific Islanders. In New York City in 2021, the highest rates were in neighborhoods with large Asian populations, including Sunset Park East, Brooklyn, with a rate of 601, 15 times Nassau’s rate.

Nationwide, 58% of hepatitis B cases are in Asians, even though they make up about 6% of the U.S. population.

Nassau was 12.9% Asian in 2022; Suffolk was 4.8% Asian, and the state was 9.6% Asian.

“Higher rates of hepatitis B tend to be seen in counties with large populations of people from countries where hepatitis B is common, such as Nassau County and New York City,” De Souza said.

Nassau health department spokeswoman Alyssa Zohrabian said in a statement that the county’s higher hepatitis B rates are because of greater access to health care — including testing — than other parts of the state.

“The increase in testing translates to higher rates of confirmed cases,” she said.

Statewide, only 19 cases of the 1,984 cases — including two in Nassau and four in Suffolk — were acute, in which the virus was contracted within the previous six months. In 2021, there were 24 acute cases in New York.

“It’s very rare to see acute hepatitis B right now,” Hirschwerk said, attributing that to widespread vaccination.

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.