(CNN) — The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a flight attendant may have exposed passengers to hepatitis A.
The CDC said in an email Tuesday that it has alerted passengers and that the airline 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 company said it will coordinate with those entities on any required health and safety measures.
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.
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