|
Hepatitis B vaccine is the best protection.
If you are having sex, but not with one steady partner, use latex condoms correctly and every time you have sex. The efficacy of latex condoms in preventing infection with HBV is unknown, but their proper use may reduce transmission. If you are pregnant, you should get a blood test for hepatitis B; Infants born to HBV-infected mothers should be given HBIG (hepatitis B immune globulin) and vaccine within 12 hours after birth. Do not shoot drugs; if you shoot drugs, stop and get into a treatment program; if you can't stop, never share drugs, needles, syringes, water, or "works", and get vaccinated against hepatitis A and B. Do not share personal care items that might have blood on them (razors, toothbrushes). Consider the risks if you are thinking about getting a tattoo or body piercing. You might get infected if the tools have someone else's blood on them or if the artist or piercer does not follow good health practices. If you have or had hepatitis B, do not donate blood, organs, or tissue. If you are a health care or public safety worker, get vaccinated against hepatitis B, and always follow routine barrier precautions and safely handle needles and other sharps.
Transmission
Occurs when blood or body fluids from an infected person enters the body of a person who is not immune.
HBV is spread through having sex with an infected person without using a condom (the efficacy of latex condoms in preventing infection with HBV is unknown, but their proper use may reduce transmission), by sharing drugs, needles, or "works" when "shooting" drugs, through needlesticks or sharps exposures on the job, or from an infected mother to her baby during birth. Persons at risk for HBV infection might also be at risk for infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) or HIV.
Highest at Risk Groups
Persons with multiple sex partners or diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease Men who have sex with men Sex contacts of infected persons Injection drug users Household contacts of chronically infected persons
Infants born to infected mothers Infants/children of immigrants from areas with high rates of HBV infection Health care and public safety workers Hemodialysis patients
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/fact.htm
|