Hepatitis exposure warning after flight attendant infection

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Several passengers aboard an American Airlines flight may have been exposed to the Hepatitis A virus by a flight attendant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said in a Tuesday email that it has alerted passengers and is notifying crew members that staffed certain flights the attendant was on.

American Airlines released a statement Tuesday saying it has been "in close contact" with the CDC and public health officials. The CDC was told about the infection on October 1st.

Privacy laws prevent the release of the flight attendant's identity.

The airline says that it has removed the person from service until all necessary health measures have been completed.

There have been ongoing and widespread outbreaks of Hepatitis A across the United States in recent years.

Hepatitis a is a vaccine-preventable disease of the liver that's caused by the Hepatitis A virus.

The CDC says, since the outbreaks were first identified in 2016, there have been 30 states that have publicly reported over 26,000 cases and 274 deaths as of Friday.