Economy 19 January 2026, 11:07am

Hepatitis A kicks off 2026 with new records

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The number of hepatitis A (HAV) infections rose in Hungary exceeded 2,000 in 2025, more than seven times as many as in 2024 and 11 times more than in 2023. This year has started with 76 HAV cases reported for the first two weeks, more than every before.

Twenty hepatitis A cases were reported in the first week of 2026, and 56 in the second. The latter figure is the highest weekly total since 2017, while the former is the second highest; only in the first week of 2017 were more cases reported (22, to be exact).

By the end of the second week, a total of 76 HAV cases were reported in Hungary, more than in any year since 2017.

Here's how dramatically 2025 turned out in terms of hepatitis A infections.

We have repeatedly reported about the issue last year and will continue doing so. The Epidemiology and Surveillance Centre, which is part of Semmelweis University, has recently pointed out that the number of HAV cases reported in Hungary significantly exceeded the five-year median value from week 48 of 2024 onwards.

There was a temporary decline from mid-April to early July 2025, presumably corresponding to the seasonal low point of the disease in spring and early summer. However,

a continuous increase has been observed since the second half of the summer, which coincides with the usual peak of the disease in late summer and autumn.

According to experts at the centre, the seasonal pattern is the same as in previous endemic years, confirming that common transmission factors (e.g. food) do not determine the spread of the virus, which is driven by direct or indirect human contact. This is also supported by the ECDC report of 28 November.

(Note that the 5-year averages are distorted by the fact that the NNGYK did not publish hepatitis A figures from the 41st week in 2020 and from the 43rd week in 2022. The former had a smaller impact, with just 25 infections reported up to the 40th week, while data missing in 2022 had a much greater impact, as the number of infections reached 557 by the 42nd week. The average number of infections was 13.3 per week that year vs. 0.6 in 2020.)

Budapest, as well as Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Pest and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties remain the most affected areas in the country.

The number and distribution of HAV infections by county last year is shown below. This also illustrates that the above four counties (and the capital) are in the top four positions of the rankings.