The most effective means of preventing viral hepatitis is to avoid contact with the blood, saliva, semen, or vaginal secretions of infected individuals. Protect sex partners from exposure to their semen, vaginal fluids, or blood. Properly used condoms may be effective in preventing sexual transmission. Regulations now require health care and laboratory workers who handle blood and other body fluids to be vaccinated. People who have come into direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an HBV carrier may receive one or more injections of hepatitis B immune globulin, sometimes in combination with hepatitis B vaccine.
Immune globulin offers temporary protection, while the vaccine provides a longer-lasting immunity.
In an effort to eliminate chronic carriers, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends that all newborn babies be vaccinated. Other groups have recommended that pregnant women be screened for HBsAg as part of their routine prenatal care. If they are infected, their babies can be given hepatitis B immune globulin as well as vaccine immediately after birth. Vaccines and drugs are being tested in the woodchuck, an animal that develops a disease similar to HBV infection in humans. This animal also can be a chronic carrier of HDV, making it a valuable model for studying these viruses and helping scientists understand hepatitis infection.