As Hepatitis B infection can cause severe liver disease including cirrhosis, hepato-cellular carcinoma and chronic liver disease, all at risk personnel should have protection against it.
Hepatitis B virus is transmitted through blood, blood products and body fluids. Therefore people who regularly get contact with these should be vaccinated against the virus. They are,
- Health care personnel
- Emergency and rescue service personnel
- Embalmers
- Morticians
- Children
This is done by giving active immunization. The vaccine is produced by integrating the hepatitis B surface antigen gene in to yeast. It is given in 3 doses. The second is given 1 month after the first dose and the second 6 months after. It is given to the deltoid muscle. It is capable of producing a short term protection in over 90% f the people.
The vaccine may not produce enough antibodies in,
- People older than 50 years of age
- Severely ill patients
- Immunocompromised people like HIV/ AIDS
So these people should be given larger doses more frequently.
The antibody levels should be checked in all the risk groups at 7-9 months after the initial dose.
The antibody levels slowly declines over time, so a booster dose to increase the antibody levels should be given 3-5 years after the initial dose.
There are some mild side effects that can occur rarely. There include fever, rash and soreness over the injection site.
References:
Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine 7th Edition
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