Hepatitis B vaccination significant for newborns

Donya Betancourt, Pediatrician, Sanur, Bali, drdonya@hotmail.com

Prevention by administering the hepatitis B vaccine to newborns is the cornerstone of hepatitis B prevention.

Before the United States began its comprehensive vaccine program nearly 18,000 children were infected yearly by the hepatitis B virus. Approximately half the children with hepatitis B acquired the infection through perinatal (mother to child) transmission, the remainder acquired the infection during early childhood through contact with other HBsAg-positive persons (horizontal transmission).

What is hepatitis B infection and hepatitis B vaccine (Hep B)?

Hepatitis B is a major cause of liver cancer and the hepatitis B vaccine is the first vaccine that prevents cancer. Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver.

There are many types of hepatitis such as hepatitis A, hepatitis C or hepatitis G.

Some people who are infected with the hepatitis B virus never feel sick. Others may have symptoms of fever and yellow skin or eyes (jaundice), loss of appetite and tiredness, pain in muscles, joints or stomach, diarrhea or vomiting, which could last for several weeks.

Many of these chronically infected people will suffer from serious health problems, such as cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) or liver cancer. The fact is the hepatitis B virus causes most of the liver cancer in the world.

Hepatitis B virus is typically spread through contact with the blood, or other body fluids, of an infected person.

So why do we immunize children against hepatitis B when they do not have sex, do not take drugs and are not medical professionals?

One important reason is that babies can get infected too. If a mother is chronically infected with hepatitis B, her baby could become infected during birth. If these babies are not immunized immediately, most of them will become chronically infected. One out of four of these babies will eventually die from cirrhosis or liver cancer.

What is the program of hepatitis B immunization?

You can protect children from hepatitis B by getting them vaccinated with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine. Newborn babies whose mothers either are infected with the hepatitis B virus or have not been tested should get their first shot within 12 hours of birth, the second shot at one to two months of age, and the third shot at six months of age.

Babies born to infected mothers should also get hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG) within 12 hours of birth. These babies should also be checked when they are nine to 15 months old to make sure the vaccine worked and that they do not have chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Talk to your doctor in detail about this condition.

Other babies can get their first shot between birth and two months of age, the second at one to four months of age, and the third at six to 18 months of age. If you miss a dose or get behind schedule, there is no need to start over. Just get the next dose as soon as possible and continue on schedule. After the third shot, most children will be protected. They do not need booster shots. Hepatitis B vaccine administered alone is 70 percent to 95 percent effective in preventing perinatal HBV infection when the first dose is given within 24 hours of birth.

What are the side effects from hepatitis B immunization?

Hepatitis B is a very safe vaccine. Three to 10 percent of children have some soreness where the shot is given, and 6 percent will get a mild fever. Twenty percent of children might become tired or irritable. More serious reactions are extremely rare. More precaution should be taken with children who are allergic to baking yeast. No child has ever been known to have died from an allergic reaction to the vaccine.

It is my belief that the low risk of harmful side affects, ready availability and ease of administering the hepatitis B vaccine is something that all parents should take advantage of in order to keep their children safe from a preventable cancer- causing virus.