Hepatitis B Vaccine

Hepatitis B is a serious disease. The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause short-term (acute) illness that leads to loss of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting, tiredness, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes), and pain in muscles, joints, and stomach. It can also cause long-term (chronic) illness that leads to liver damage (cirrhosis), liver cancer, and death. About 1.25 million people in the U.S. have chronic HBV infection, and about 1/3 of these people don't know how they were infected.

HBV is spread through contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person. A person can become infected in several ways:

• by having unprotected sex with an infected person
• by sharing needles when injecting drugs
• by being stuck with a used needle
• during birth when the virus passes from an infected mother to her baby.

Hepatitis B vaccine can prevent Hepatitis B when properly administered in 3 doses. It is the first anti-cancer vaccine because it can prevent a form of liver cancer. Everyone 18 years of age and younger, and adults over 18 who are at risk should receive the Hepatitis B vaccine. At risk adults include:

• people who have had more than one sexual partner within a 6 month period
• men who have sex with other men
• sexual contacts of infected people
• people who inject drugs
• health care and public safety workers who might be exposed to infected blood or body fluids
• household contacts of persons with chronic HBV infection
• hemodialysis patients

If you are not sure whether you are at risk, ask your doctor or nurse.

People should not get the Hepatitis B vaccine if they have ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction to baker's yeast (the kind used for making bread) or to a previous dose of Hepatitis B vaccine. People who are moderately or severly ill at the time the shot is scheduled should usually wait until they recover before getting the vaccine.

Getting the Hepatitis B vaccine is much safer than getting the disease and most people who receive the vaccine do not have any problems with it. Some mild problems that might occur include soreness at the injection site lasting 1-2 days, and a mild to moderate fever.