A total of 83 Hepatitis A cases have been confirmed in Nashville since December 2017.
Metro Public Health Department (MPDH) officials continue to work with the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH), as well as other Metro Departments and community organizations in response to the outbreak.
Work continues to reach three at-risk groups. Those at greatest risk of exposure to hepatitis A in the current outbreak include:
- People who use drugs (not just injection drug use)
- Men who have sexual contact with men
- Individuals experiencing homelessness
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The Health Department has led a hepatitis A vaccine campaign, along with community partners, to vaccinate more than 4,000 people in Nashville over the past two months. Vaccination initiatives are continuing in an effort to end the outbreak, including working with organizations that serve the homeless, reaching out to the LGBTQ community, working with the Davidson County Sherriff’s Office to vaccinate DCSO inmates, and efforts to reach those who use drugs.
Upcoming Health Department vaccination efforts include offering free hepatitis A vaccine at the 8th Annual Bianca Paige Day event that will take place August 25 at Trax, located at 1501 Ensley Blvd. Health Department nurses will offer the free vaccine from 2 p.m. – 10 p.m. at the event.
Neighborhood Health will offer hepatitis A vaccine at an upcoming special event. One Generation Away, a food ministry serving our area, has donated two pallets of boxed food to support Neighborhood Health’s ongoing hepatitis A vaccination efforts.
Neighborhood Health will be distributing the food and offering hepatitis A vaccine on Tuesday, August 28 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Downtown Clinic (DTC), 526 8th Ave South.
Large hepatitis A outbreaks have occurred since early 2017 in several states, including ongoing outbreaks in California, Utah, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, spreading from person to person primarily among people who are homeless and people who are drug users.
MPHD works with TDH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on testing specimens collected from those confirmed as having hepatitis A.
CDC test results from samples in Nashville match the strain of hepatitis A found in the recent outbreaks around the country.
MPHD continues to offer free hepatitis A vaccine at all three of its Health Department Centers to the three risk groups. MPHD continues to receive additional doses of hepatitis A vaccine from TDH and more vaccine is available as needed.
MPHD operates three health centers open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday:
- East Health Center, 1015 East Trinity Lane
- Lentz Health Center, 2500 Charlotte Ave.
- Woodbine Health Center, 224 Oriel Ave
An agreement with Neighborhood Health has been established to provide hepatitis A vaccine to those in the three at-risk groups. Neighborhood Health locations and hours of operation are as follows:
- Downtown Clinic, 526 8th Avenue South (adjacent to the Room in the Inn campus) 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
- Madison Clinic, 601 W. Due West Avenue 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday
- My House Clinic, 442 Metroplex Dr. Building D, Suite 200 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday
- Cayce Clinic, 617 South 8th St. 7am to 4pm Monday through Friday
- Cleveland Park Medical & Dental Clinic, 1223 Dickerson Pike 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday
- Eastside Medical & Dental Clinic, 905 Main St. 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday
- Napier Medical & Dental Clinic, 107 Charles E. Davis Blvd. 7am to 4pm Monday through Friday
Walk-ins are welcome. Appointments can be made with Neighborhood Health by calling (615) 227-3000.
