What is the Importance of Hepatitis Vaccination?

Hepatitis vaccination is important in trying to prevent the spread of hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Hepatitis A usually happens in community-wide outbreaks since it is spread through infected food or poor sanitary conditions. Another form of the disease, hepatitis B, is transmitted to others through blood and body fluids. Hepatitis can cause long-term complications, and in some cases it can result in death. It is especially important for those with high risk factors to receive a hepatitis vaccination to prevent getting and spreading the disease.

Both types of the hepatitis vaccination can be 95% or more effective in preventing the disease. A vaccine can be given separately for each type of hepatitis, or a combination hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine is also available. Two doses are usually necessary for hepatitis A, and it can be given to children starting around 12 months old. Hepatitis B takes three vaccinations, and the first one can be given to newborns within 12 hours after birth. It takes about four weeks for immunity to build up, but it lasts at least 20 years and is possibly lifelong.

There are several causes of hepatitis A that generally lead to a community-wide outbreak. The virus can be spread through stool in unsanitary conditions, infected blood, or infected food. Symptoms can last two to six months and include fever, nausea, jaundice, and abdominal pain. Certain geographic areas are more susceptible to hepatitis A outbreaks, such as Mexico, Central and South America, Eastern Europe and Africa. Hepatitis vaccination is important for those living in or traveling to those places.

Hepatitis B is transmitted to others through blood and body fluids, like during sexual contact, when sharing needles for injection drugs, or when infected mothers give birth. The symptoms include loss of appetite, jaundice, joint pain, and rash, although many people who are chronic carriers of the disease do not experience any symptoms. Since the disease affects the liver, it can cause cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death.

More than 350 million people worldwide have a chronic hepatitis B infection, and about 1 million die annually from the disease or complications it causes. Infants and children infected with hepatitis B are three times more likely than adults to develop chronic liver disease or liver cancer. Approximately 90% of infants infected from their mothers at birth become chronic carriers, so hepatitis vaccination is important for newborns.

Those with high risk factors for the disease should consider hepatitis vaccination. The high risk factors include those who have chronic liver disease, use injection drugs, are homosexual men, or work with hepatitis in a laboratory. People traveling to areas with frequent outbreaks or who work in day care centers or nursing homes can also be at risk for getting hepatitis.