How to prevent perinatal hepatitis B transmission

 Pregnancy and delivery

 The DHS perinatal hepatitis B program

 Resources for physicians and healthcare providers

 2004 Survey

Perinatal Hepatitis B

• The problem of perinatal hepatitis B
• How to prevent perinatal hepatitis B transmission
• Pregnancy and delivery: what clinicians and hepatitis-B-positive women should know about screening and immunization
• The OHS perinatal hepatitis B program: who we are, what we do.
• Resources for physicians and health-care providers: find out how the OHS perinatal hepatitis B program can provide clinical consultations, vaccine, reporting forms and educational publications.

Disease Reporting: Health care providers AND clinical laboratories are required by law to report cases and suspect cases of Hepatitis B to local health departments within one working day of identification. Childhood immunization is recommended.

For County Health Departments: Investigative guidelines (11/06) (pdf 136K).
Case report form (02/07) (pdf 112K).

For Hospitals: Standing Order Information (09/06)

The acute and chronic consequences of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are major health problems in the United States. An estimated 1 to 1.25 million infectious carriers of HBV live in this country currently. Many of these chronic carriers are at risk of long term health problems, such as chronic liver damage, cirrhosis of the liver, and liver cancer. Each year approximately 4,000 to 5,000 of these persons die from chronic liver disease.

Since 1991, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) have recommended that all pregnant women be serologically screened for HBV infection. The State of Oregon supports these recommendations and advises that all pregnant women should be tested for hepatitis B as part of their prenatal profile during every pregnancy.

An estimated 150 to 250 infants are born each year in Oregon to women who are contagious with the hepatitis B virus.

• Children who are exposed to hepatitis B during birth and early childhood have up to a 90% chance of becoming chronically infected. Up to 25% of chronic carriers will die as a result of liver disease as an adult. These children are also capable of infecting others by close contact or sexual contact when they mature.
• Perinatal transmission can be prevented if identification of a hepatitis B positive pregnant woman is made in time. Detection of the hepatitis B virus is made through a simple blood test.
• Administering a vaccine to infants born to hepatitis B-positive mothers can reduce the risk of that child becoming infected.
• Annually, about 160 cases of infants are known to be delivered to infected mothers in Oregon.