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Risk Factors for Hepatitis A

What Are the Risk Factors for Hepatitis A?

Children, teens, and adults who may be at high risk of hepatitis A include the following:

  • People traveling to areas of where hepatitis A is prevalent, including, but not limited to: Africa, Asia (except Japan), the Mediterranean basin, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central and South America, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean
  • People living in or relocating to any community in the US or abroad with one or more recorded hepatitis A outbreaks within the past five years
  • Military personnel
  • People who engage in high-risk sexual activity
  • Users of illegal intravenous (IV) drugs
  • Hemophiliacs and other recipients of therapeutic blood products
  • Employees of daycare centers
  • Institutional care workers
  • Laboratory workers who handle live hepatitis A virus
  • People who handle primate animals that may be carrying the hepatitis A virus

Hepatitis A is sometimes called a traveler's disease because it is the most frequently occurring, vaccine-preventable infection in travelers. However, it is possible to become infected with hepatitis A virus without ever leaving the United States. Some cases reported in the United States have occurred in people with no identifiable risk factors.