Here's the latest on how to protect you and your family from several preventable diseases through immunizations. This information is supplied by Leila Leisch, RN, CIC, infection control coordinator with ProHealth Care, Inc., the parent company for Waukesha Memorial hospitals. If you have a preadolescent, adolescent or college-aged child, he or she may be at risk of contracting hepatitis B, a serious liver disease. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics began recommending that people ages birth to 21 years old be vaccinated against this very serious and fairly common infection. Most cases occur among sexually active young adults.
Immunization provides protection for at least five years.
Some people with hepatitis B are carriers, meaning they have no symptoms but can pass the virus to others. Drug users who share needles are at very high risk. Hepatitis B cannot be spread from sneezing, coughing or holding hands. A vaccine is available to protect those who may have been exposed to this most common and highly infectious cause of liver disease. The disease, transmitted by contaminated food or water, runs its course within two months and the virus does not remain in the body.