For Professionals Preventing Hepatitis B

FAST FACT

A blood test is the only way to detect the hepatitis B infection.

Hepatitis B can be prevented. Talk to your patients about the hepatitis B vaccine which is safe and effective and will protect them.

Screening your patients is also very important. It will help determine if patients at risk need to be vaccinated, have been vaccinated, or are infected with the virus. A blood test is the only way to detect the hepatitis B infection.

Transmission of hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood and infected bodily fluids. It is spread through unprotected sex, sharing razors or toothbrushes with an infected person, living in a household with an infected person, using unsterilized needles including tattoo or piercing needles, sharing IV drug needles, human bites, and from an infected mother to her newborn child at birth.

Hepatitis B cannot be spread by kissing on the cheek, coughing or sneezing, casual contact such as hugging or holding hands, eating food prepared by an infected individual, breastfeeding or sharing eating utensils such as chopsticks and spoons.

Hepatitis B Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have recommended that infants, children and adolescents up to age 18 receive the hepatitis B vaccine. The hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for all adults who may be at high risk for infection, including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In high-risk groups, people of all ages should be tested. Early detection improves the chances of keeping the infection from worsening, which helps reduce the risk of developing liver cancer. Early detection also heightens awareness about the risk of transmitting the disease to others.

There is no known cure. Patients and families can be protected against hepatitis B with the vaccine. For full protection, three injections are required. Adults and adolescents should receive the second injection a month after the first. The third dose, considered a booster, is given six months later. Hemodialysis patients and others who are immunocompromised (those taking immunosuppressive drugs or who are infected with HIV) may require larger doses of the vaccine.

Vaccination is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the following groups of people:

  • All newborns, infants and children, especially sexually active teenagers
  • Health care and emergency personnel
  • Hemodialysis patients
  • Patients with chronic liver disease
  • Military personnel
  • Morticians and embalmers
  • Patients and staff at institutions for the mentally challenged
  • Prison inmates
  • People with multiple sex partners
  • Injection drug users
  • Sex partners and household members of HBV carriers
  • International travelers
  • Members of ethnic or racial groups with a high rate of HBV infection (including African Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Asian Americans)

For more information, go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/fact.htm

FDA-approved treatments for hepatitis B include adefovir dipivoxil, interferon alfa-2b, pegylated interferon alfa-2a, lamivudine, and entecavir.

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