United States: Los Angeles County is now grappling with a sweeping hepatitis A outbreak, one that’s taken a dramatic turn both in the spread and in the unexpected profile of those falling ill. Once mainly confined to unhoused populations, this fierce and virulent strain is now reaching well beyond those earlier boundaries. 

In 2024 alone, 165 cases were reported — a staggering threefold leap from the year before. Authorities have linked at least seven deaths to this fast-spreading menace. It’s the most extensive hepatitis A outbreak seen in the region in over ten years. 

Traditionally, hepatitis A has festered among unhoused communities, where access to clean sanitation is scarce. But this time, the tide has turned. Many of those infected are housed individuals with no recent drug use or travel — the usual red flags. This unexpected shift has caused local health officers to be deeply troubled, as per the LA Times. 

Dr. Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County’s chief health officer, issued an urgent plea this week, calling for swift action and mass vaccination. “The surge in hepatitis A infections is a clear signal — we must respond rapidly to safeguard public health,” Davis emphasized. 

Between January and March this year, 29 cases were logged — double what the County recorded during that window in 2023. 

Hepatitis A outbreak declared in LA County.
"…this year, most infections have been reported among people who aren’t homeless, and who haven’t recently traveled or used illicit drugs…"
Most fully recover from Hep A, but 7 deaths have been linked to this outbreak so far. pic.twitter.com/NGJAk8UfPO

— Noha Aboelata, MD (@NohaAboelataMD) May 6, 2025

This aggressive virus hides in the stool and bloodstream of infected individuals. It spreads subtly — often via tainted food or drinks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that close personal contact, drug sharing, and intimate exposure can easily pass the virus on. 

Despite the confirmed 165 cases, officials suspect the true count is far higher — hidden behind undiagnosed or asymptomatic carriers. Even now, this outbreak dwarfs the 2017 crisis, when 87 confirmed cases rattled the region. 

Dr. Sharon Balter, who heads the County’s Division of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, warned that these numbers are likely just the surface. “The outbreak is broader than the data suggests,” she remarked, urging medical practitioners to test any patient showing hepatitis-like symptoms. 

Telltale signs of this illness include exhaustion, fever, abdominal cramping, queasiness, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes), and dark-colored urine. In adults, the disease often screams loud — more than 70 percent show symptoms. In children under six, however, it tends to whisper — nearly three-quarters show none at all. 

Wastewater surveillance, a newer method to track silent viral spread, has confirmed an uptick in virus levels, hinting that the outbreak is still burning hot — even as late 2024 data briefly teased a downturn. 

This kind of data is crucial. “Many infected folks never even seek care — either because they show no symptoms or can’t access healthcare,” Balter said. 

While the vast majority of infected people recover without issue, the virus can occasionally escalate — damaging the liver permanently or even proving fatal. 

Genetic tracing shows this strain is mostly confined to LA County, with only a few spillover cases in Orange and San Bernardino counties, according to Dr. Prabhu Gounder, medical director of the County’s viral hepatitis division, as per LA Times. 

The hepatitis A vaccine — first introduced for high-risk kids in 1996 and for all children in 2006 — remains the strongest shield. The CDC urges parents to vaccinate their children at ages 1–2. Adults who missed those early shots can still get vaccinated. 

California, however, doesn’t require hepatitis A shots for school or daycare enrollment. This leaves a wide swath of adults potentially unprotected. 

“This means many grown-ups never received the vaccine,” Balter explained. 

Because of the outbreak, public health officials are urging vaccination for all unvaccinated county residents — especially those experiencing homelessness or drug use. “This vaccine is both incredibly safe and powerful,” Balter said. “You can get it at your doctor’s office or at most pharmacies.” 

She also noted that if you’re unsure whether you’ve been vaccinated before, it’s safe to take the shot again. No harm done. 

“If you’re uncertain, just go ahead and get it,” she advised. 

A second dose isn’t needed if you’ve already completed the two-shot course — unless you’ve had something like a bone marrow transplant. 

Besides vaccination, prevention hinges on hygiene. Washing hands with soap and water after using the toilet and before handling food is key. If using sanitizer, it must contain at least 60% alcohol. “Most hand sanitizers don’t meet that threshold,” Balter warned. 

The virus’s incubation window stretches from 15 to 50 days — a slow burn. Some people bounce back in weeks. Others endure months of fatigue and liver dysfunction. About 10–15% have symptoms that linger or return for up to nine months. 

Because of this long delay between exposure and illness, “we have to stay ahead of this,” said Gounder. “The cases we’re seeing now are from exposures weeks ago,” as noted by LA Times. 

Diagnosing hepatitis A early can be tricky. Its first signs mimic common stomach bugs. More obvious symptoms, like yellow eyes, may show up late — or only after blood tests are no longer effective. 

Hepatitis A has shadowed humanity for centuries, though the virus itself wasn’t isolated until the 1970s. Case numbers plummeted after the vaccine’s US debut in 1995, dropping 95% from 1996 to 2011. But 2016 brought an unwelcome resurgence — driven by outbreaks among those using drugs and the unhoused. 

San Diego County’s outbreak, from 2016 to 2018, was especially brutal: 592 cases, 20 deaths. L.A. County fought its 2017 outbreak with an aggressive vaccine drive and public awareness campaign. 

Most of the 165 cases in 2024 were among adults, likely those who missed early vaccinations. “These are people who weren’t immunized and never got infected as kids,” Balter noted. 

Wastewater has become a valuable tool in detecting the true scale of the outbreak. But federal budget cuts threaten such surveillance. 

“There’s deep concern,” Balter warned. “Losing key funding could seriously limit our ability to track or react to threats like this.” 

One especially worrying possibility is vaccine funding cuts. “If these resources vanish,” Gounder said, “we’ll lose a key supply of free vaccines — which are critical to ending this crisis.” 

Elevated residues of minute synthetic debris—namely micronanoplastics—have been uncovered deep within carotid artery deposits, particularly among individuals exhibiting neurological warning signs such as stroke or transient blindness. This evolving threat, though still under meticulous scrutiny, unveils a sinister layer of environmental harm embedded within vascular disease. Shared at the 2025 Vascular Discovery Sessions by the American Heart Association, these insights disrupt the conventional understanding of stroke causality. 

A closer look reveals that individuals burdened with plaque accumulation in their carotid arteries exhibited amplified levels of tiny plastic fragments—far surpassing those found in healthier counterparts. The disparity was especially severe among those afflicted by cerebrovascular events, like ischemic strokes and retinal blood flow disturbances, according to scitechdaily.com. 

Micronanoplastics, derived from both industrial origins and the decomposition of discarded plastics in nature, represent a stealthy category of pollution: 

•  Microplastics: Slightly discernible fragments, smaller than 5 millimeters, often unnoticed in daily exposure. 
•  Nanoplastics: Infinitesimal specks, invisible to the naked eye, yet capable of infiltrating biological tissue like a molecular Trojan horse. 

These diminutive plastics can seep into ecosystems, embedding themselves into the very architecture of cells and vessels. Due to their invasive scale, scientists now advocate abandoning the blended term “micronanoplastics” in favor of the sharper, more targeted “nanoplastics.” 

Microplastics Are Invading Our Arteries, and It Could Be Increasing Your Risk of #Stroke https://t.co/Dw6cd5cmPP A small study suggests that fatty plaques in the neck’s carotid arteries may contain over 50 times more micronanoplastics, tiny plastic particles, than healthy…

— Dr. Aliya Shah (@aliya_Hshah) May 5, 2025

Environmental Entrapment and Food Chain Infiltration 

Dr. Ross Clark—vascular expert and lead investigator from the University of New Mexico—emphasized that these elusive fragments are not simply the byproduct of household plastic use. “While many suspect drinking bottles or plastic containers, the major intake lies hidden in what we consume—our meals and drinking water,” Clark disclosed. 

He added that the breakdown of marine garbage and terrestrial plastic debris over decades results in widespread micro contamination, leaching into the soil, ocean layers, and—ultimately—human arteries, as per scitechdaily.com. 

Back in 2024, Italian researchers unearthed traces of micronanoplastics within carotid plaques of asymptomatic individuals undergoing vascular surgeries. Follow-ups showed a chilling outcome: those harboring plastic-polluted plaques were significantly more prone to fatal or near-fatal cardiac events, even in the absence of initial symptoms. 

Fresh Data, Same Worrying Trend 

Building upon the Italian groundwork, Clark’s team examined under 50 patients divided into three groups: healthy arteries, asymptomatic plaque buildup, and symptomatic plaque-caused impairments. Each artery was then combed through for plastic content and gene-level markers of inflammation and cellular activity. 

What emerged was unsettling: 

 Individuals with silent plaque buildup had 16 times the plastic load compared to deceased donors without plaque. 

 Stroke-afflicted individuals held 51 times the plastic saturation in their artery deposits. 

Even when inflammation levels weren’t acutely high, plaques tainted with synthetic debris demonstrated altered behavior in key immune cells—namely macrophages—and the stem-like cells responsible for structural plaque stability. These findings suggest the damage may not lie in sudden immune activation, but rather a subtler, gene-driven decay of artery integrity. 

Proceeding with Caution 

Despite these compelling signs, Clark advises restraint. “These observations are just the beginning. It’s too early to declare causation between nanoplastics and vascular collapse. We must tread carefully before rewriting the medical playbook.” 

He points to several limitations. The study can’t definitively state that plastic deposits caused the carotid issues—it may be a coincidental marker linked to another disease mechanism. Also, limitations in the testing method (pyrolysis-GC-MS) can blur results, as fatty tissue breakdown mimics the chemical signature of common plastics like polyethylene. 

“To refine accuracy, we’ve modified our approach to remove lipid interference, but science is always evolving,” Clark noted. 

Implications Beyond the Lab 

Dr. Karen Furie, a neurologist unaffiliated with the study, emphasized the weight of these revelations. “Until now, no one flagged environmental nanoplastic exposure as a modifiable stroke risk. This opens an entirely new window for prevention strategies,” according to scitechdaily.com. 

Study Design and Technical Grounding 

Researchers studied 48 artery samples gathered between 2023 and 2024 from surgical patients and deceased donors aged 60 to 90. The groups were: 

 Symptomatic patients (stroke, temporary vision loss) 

 Asymptomatic patients with detected carotid plaque 

 Tissue donors without vascular blockages 

All samples were dissected to gauge inflammatory agents like TNF-α and IL-6, and then further analyzed using RNA sequencing to observe immune cell gene dynamics in the presence of high vs. low plastic content, as per scitechdaily.com. 

Conclusion: A Silent Threat in Plain Sight 

This study doesn’t just hint at an invisible invader—it exposes it. As the modern world continues its love affair with plastic, the cost may be etched into our very arteries. The question is no longer if these particles harm us, but how deeply they do—and whether we can stop them in time. 

Semaglutide, already a celebrated compound in renowned medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, has now unveiled another dimension of its healing prowess—this time targeting an aggressive liver affliction. A sweeping international research endeavor has brought to light its potent influence on a condition known as Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH), a severe variation of fatty liver disease. 

Spanning across 72 weeks and engaging 800 participants from 37 countries, this phase 3 clinical voyage unraveled transformative effects. Individuals who were administered weekly semaglutide doses displayed substantial reversal in MASH symptoms, with nearly two-thirds reflecting clinical improvement. 

“This expansive investigation underscores semaglutide’s power—not just in mending liver tissue, but in alleviating the tangled metabolic roots of the disease,” shared Arun Sanyal, distinguished medicine professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, according to sciencealert.com. 

🚨 A weight-loss drug may do more than trim pounds.
New research shows semaglutide (Wegovy) helped reduce liver damage in people with MASH—a serious fatty liver disease.https://t.co/ra7xPOLHOG#LiverHealth pic.twitter.com/CgIhkzskc5

— The Educated Patient (@TheEduPatient) May 1, 2025

Participants were segmented into treatment and placebo brackets. Among those receiving semaglutide, 62.9 percent manifested marked improvement in MASH-related symptoms. In stark contrast, only 34.3 percent of the placebo group showed comparable results. 

Further bolstering its therapeutic profile, semaglutide also contributed to a significant easing of liver fibrosis—essentially scarring caused as the liver attempts self-repair. In this regard, 36.8 percent of medicated individuals saw reduction in fibrosis severity, whereas only 22.4 percent of placebo recipients noticed such change. 

A dual benefit—amelioration in both MASH and fibrosis—was witnessed in 32.7 percent of patients under semaglutide, doubling the 16.1 percent seen in the control group. This outcome not only reinforces semaglutide’s multifaceted influence but also paves the way for a broader medical horizon. 

The placebo response, often attributed to psychological uplift and heightened lifestyle mindfulness during trials, remained consistent with typical trends. 

“If this therapy gains formal sanction, it could stand as an essential addition for patients grappling with MASH and its hepatic scarring,” noted Sanyal. 

The gravity of this prospect lies in MASH’s tight linkage with heart disease, diabetes, and kidney disorders—all arenas where semaglutide has already carved a track record of success, as per sciencealert.com. 

Functionally, semaglutide acts as a GLP-1 receptor agonist—a mimic of the body’s natural hormone responsible for appetite suppression and blood glucose moderation. Though it was initially prized for combating obesity and type 2 diabetes, its biological fine-tuning capabilities seem to unlock broader therapeutic doors. 

In the realm of liver diseases, experts speculate semaglutide’s modulation of metabolic and inflammation pathways strikes at the very nucleus of MASH progression. 

While this phase has concluded, the study marches onward, extending its reach to a more expansive population over a five-year timeline to gauge durability of these initial strides. Currently, with only a single recognized treatment for MASH on the market, such breakthroughs carry urgent weight. 

“By addressing both hepatic impairment and its metabolic undercurrents, semaglutide symbolizes a paradigm shift in treatment—offering a glimmer of hope to millions who endure in silence,” concluded Sanyal, according to sciencealert.com. 

The detailed findings have now found a home in the pages of the New England Journal of Medicine.