Hepatitis B

What is hepatitis B? Basic facts:

• Hepatitis B is a life-threatening liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. Its possible consequences are chronic liver disease and the risk of death from liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.
• The virus is transmitted by contact with blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person.
• About 600,000 people die annually from the consequences of hepatitis B.
• Hepatitis B is one of the main occupational risk factors for healthcare workers.
• The hepatitis B virus can live outside the body for at least 7 days and cause infection by entering the body of a person who is not protected by the vaccine.
• Hepatitis B can be prevented with an affordable, safe and effective vaccine.
• Vaccination against hepatitis B has been carried out since 1982. Vaccination effectively prevents infection and its chronic consequences in 95% and, in fact, is a vaccine against one type of cancer - liver cancer.
• The incubation period of the hepatitis B virus lasts, on average, 75 days, but it can last from 30 to 180 days. The virus can be detected 30-60 days after infection and remain in the body for various time periods.
  

Hepatitis B can be transmitted:

- from an infected mother to a child;
- sexually during unprotected sexual intercourse;
- with saliva through a kiss, a toothbrush (with an active form of the disease, the hepatitis B virus can be contained in the saliva in sufficient quantities for infection), through an iron comb, scissors used by an infected person;
– menstrual, vaginal secretions and seminal fluid;
– as a result of repeated use of syringes and needles in medical institutions or among injection drug users.
In addition, infection can occur during medical procedures, tattooing, or the use of razor blades or similar items contaminated with infected blood. There are known cases of children becoming infected with the hepatitis B virus in a sandbox after being injected with a syringe that was previously used for injecting drugs
. The hepatitis B virus is not transmitted through ordinary household contacts - shaking hands, hugging, talking, sharing dishes, etc. with an infected person.

Is the hepatitis B vaccine safe for children?

Hepatitis B vaccine is absolutely safe. The technology of its production is such that it does not contain either a living or even a killed causative agent of the disease . The vaccine is produced using recombinant DNA technology. A plasmid containing the hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) gene is inserted into common baker's yeast, which then produces HBsAg. HBsAg is collected and purified. This vaccine cannot cause infection with the hepatitis B virus (since this process does not produce potentially infectious viral DNA or whole viral particles), but it does produce lasting immunity against it . Intense local (redness, pain at the injection site) and general (increased body temperature) reactions are usually not recorded on the hepatitis B vaccine, and most often it is transferred "imperceptibly" to the child. After the introduction of mass immunization against hepatitis B, the incidence of acute forms in the world decreased 10 times.

Do adults need to be vaccinated against hepatitis B?

In Kosovo, vaccination against hepatitis B became available for babies after 2001, so adults born earlier should be vaccinated. For additional information, please can contact your family doctor.