Viral Hepatitis
Jan 17, 2002 11:01 AM
HEPATITIS B VACCINATION OF THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE
Q: IF MY JOB DUTIES DON'T INVOLVE REGULAR EXPOSURE TO BLOOD, SHOULD I BE VACCINATED?
A: Public health professionals do not recommend vaccination for general classroom teachers and staff. If you are concerned, however, you should discuss this with your doctor.
But remember: You should get the vaccine if there are circumstances in your private life that put you at risk of exposure to the hepatitis B virus.
Q: WHO SHOULD BE VACCINATED?
A: The United States Public Health Service recommends that the vaccine be administered to people in the following groups, among others:
People whose life circumstances or activities place them at risk for hepatitis B infection, including household contacts and sex partners of hepatitis B carriers, injecting drug users, sexually active homosexual and bisexual men, sexually active heterosexual men and women with more than one sex partner, and hemodialysis patients.
Adolescents who are sexually active or participate in illegal drug use.
Workers whose jobs entail frequent contact with blood or other body fluids, including health care personnel, law enforcement officials, and staff of institutions for the developmentally disabled.
All infants and toddlers. (New York State law now requires that all children born after January 1, 1993, receive the hepatitis B vaccine before entering kindergarten.)
Q: WHY SHOULD INFANTS AND TODDLERS BE VACCINATED? THEY ARE NOT INVOLVED IN ACTIVITIES INVOLVING EXPOSURE TO THE HEPATITIS B VIRUS.
A: Traditionally, children have been vaccinated against communicable diseases common in childhood. Now, with the recommendation that all children be vaccinated against hepatitis B, childhood vaccination is being used for the first time to prevent a disease that is most likely to strike young adults. The United States Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics have endorsed this long-term preventive strategy because it is so difficult to identify and vaccinate adults in the high risk groups for hepatitis B.
