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Communicable Disease Surveillance

Hepatitis B

Current Value

3

Dec 2023

Definition

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Why Is This Important?

Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). The hepatitis B virus is transmitted when blood, semen, or another body fluid from a person infected with the virus enters the body of someone who is not infected. This can happen through sexual contact; sharing needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment; or from mother to baby at birth. For some people, hepatitis B is an acute, or short-term, illness but for others, it can become a long-term, chronic infection. Risk for chronic infection is related to age at infection: approximately 90% of infected infants become chronically infected, compared with 2%–6% of adults. Chronic hepatitis B can lead to serious health issues, like cirrhosis or liver cancer. The best way to prevent hepatitis B is by getting vaccinated.

Story Behind the Curve

The number of reported acute hepatitis B cases in the US has remained stable with a slight increase in 2017. The trend is influenced by improved immunization, increasing injection drug use related to the opioid crisis, and improved surveillance.

What We Do

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that the following people receive hepatitis B vaccination:

  • All infants
  • Unvaccinated children aged <19 years
  • People at risk for infection by sexual exposure
    • Sex partners of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)–positive people
    • Sexually active people who are not in a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship (e.g., people with more than one sex partner during the previous 6 months)
    • People seeking evaluation or treatment for a sexually transmitted infection
    • Men who have sex with men
  • People at risk for infection by percutaneous or mucosal exposure to blood
    • Current or recent injection-drug users
    • Household contacts of people who are HBsAg-positive
    • Residents and staff of facilities for developmentally disabled people
    • Health care and public safety personnel with reasonably anticipated risk for exposure to blood or blood-contaminated body fluids
    • Hemodialysis patients and predialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and home dialysis patients
    • People with diabetes aged 19–59 years; people with diabetes aged ≥60 years at the discretion of the treating clinician
  • International travelers to countries with high or intermediate levels of endemic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (HBsAg prevalence of ≥2%)
  • People with hepatitis C virus infection
  • People with chronic liver disease (including, but not limited to, people with cirrhosis, fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, and an alanine aminotransferase [ALT] or aspartate aminotransferase [AST] level greater than twice the upper limit of normal)
  • People with HIV
  • People who are incarcerated
  • All other people seeking protection from HBV infection

Partnerships

Clear Impact Suite is an easy-to-use, web-based software platform that helps your staff collaborate with external stakeholders and community partners by utilizing the combination of data collection, performance reporting, and program planning.

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