Hepatitis A and B are contagious viral liver diseases. The best way to prevent them is vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. The potential risks associated with hepatitis are much greater than those posed by immunization. In fact, no serious side effects from these vaccines have even been reported.
Who Needs Hepatitis A Vaccine
According to the CDC, hepatitis A vaccine should be routinely given to children age 12 months or older, and to adults who are at risk, including travelers to countries where hepatitis A is common, people who use illegal drugs, live with an infected person, men who have sexual contact with men and patients with clotting-factor disorders such as hemophilia.
Why Hepatitis A Immunization
Hepatitis A is usually a mild illness lasting a few weeks, and almost all patients recover completely. But it can sometimes last several months and cause liver failure and death, although this is rare and mostly in persons 50 years old or older, or in people with other liver diseases. There are no known treatments for hepatitis A.
Benefits of the Hepatitis A Immunization
Many experts believe that hepatitis A vaccination has decreased rates of hepatitis A in the U.S., according to the CDC. Since many infected people can be unaware of the disease due to a lack of symptoms, they can easily spread the virus. Also, an infected person can transmit the virus up to two weeks before the symptoms appear.
Who Needs Hepatitis B Vaccine
Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for all infants, all children and adolescents younger than 19 years of age, travelers to regions where hepatitis B is common, people who live with someone infected, healthcare and public safety workers at risk for exposure to blood, persons treated for sexually transmitted diseases, men who have sexual contact with men, people who share drug-injection equipment, people with end-stage renal disease, chronic liver disease or HIV infection.
Why Hepatitis B Immunization
Hepatitis B can be an acute or chronic disease. The acute infection can last from several weeks to six months, and can lead to a serious chronic infection, in which the virus remains in the body. Chronic hepatitis B can cause liver damage, liver failure, liver cancer or even death, with approximately 2,000 to 4,000 deaths from hepatitis B-related liver disease yearly, according to the CDC.
Benefits of the Hepatitis B Immunization
The Hepatitis B vaccine provides greater than 90 percent protection to those immunized before exposure to the virus. According to the CDC, since the introduction of routine hepatitis B vaccination of children, rates of the disease in the United States, particularly among children, have dramatically decreased. Furthermore, because of the occasional lack of symptoms, many people with chronic hepatitis B virus infection do not know they are infected but can spread the virus. Hepatitis B virus can survive outside the body for at least seven days and still cause infection. It is also important to immunize infants against hepatitis B, because the younger a person is when infected, the greater the chance of developing chronic hepatitis B. According to the CDC, approximately 90 percent of infants infected with hepatitis B develop chronic infection.
