As a family physician with my own practice, I am privileged to treat patients of all ages and stages of life. I especially enjoy giving birth to babies and taking care of them as they grow.
Children are precious and every parent I talk to wants to protect them as much as possible. One of the best ways to do this is with vaccines. However, you may have recently heard some confusing news about the hepatitis B vaccine. The reality is that vaccinating your newborn for hepatitis B is a low-risk way to protect your baby from an incurable and potentially serious disease.
What is Hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B is a virus which can attack the liver. It causes liver inflammation and chronic exposure to the virus can lead to liver cancer or liver failure. The virus is spread through body fluids and can be transmitted through blood, sexual contact, or sharing needles. Pregnant patients can also spread the virus to the baby in the womb.
You may not know if you have hepatitis B
Family doctors often call hepatitis B the “silent epidemic” because people often don’t know they have it until they get tested or develop other health problems later in life. Some of my pregnant patients have been tested for hepatitis B during a routine obstetric blood transfusion and were unaware that they were infected. This is not unusual, as data show that about half of US adults have chronic hepatitis B don’t know they have.
People infected with hepatitis B may not know they have the virus for several reasons. First of all, this is due to the fact that the virus can lie dormant for a long time without symptoms, only to appear later in life or to flare up at the same time as other health problems. In addition, hepatitis B has a good storage capacity. Many viruses do not survive outside the body for more than 48 hours, but the hepatitis B virus can survive outside the body for up to a week.
Hepatitis B and children
There is a misconception that hepatitis B is “only” a sexually transmitted infection. This is not true. A single drop of infected blood—on a washcloth, toothbrush, razor, or anything else—carries enough virus to infect others. And because so many people don’t know they’re infected, it’s easier to get infected at school, daycare, and even through contact sports.
Why is the hepatitis B vaccine important?
Here’s the good news: Hepatitis B is completely preventable. For decades, we have had access to a safe and effective vaccine that can prevent infection. In 1991, the United States recommended that all children receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth and more than 100 other countries vaccination is also recommended for infants.
Vaccination is especially important because there is no cure for hepatitis B. The only way to protect your child from hepatitis B is the vaccine.
If your child has hepatitis B, there are many consequences, and some of them are very serious. Liver failure is possible, which can lead to death.
Pediatric vaccines are here to protect us at birth, and the hepatitis B vaccine did just that. Before the vaccine was recommended in 1991, 18,000 children per year Hepatitis B was diagnosed as a new condition. Since newborns have been routinely vaccinated against the virus, this number will decrease to 20 children per year. Extrapolate the data and you get 90,000 deaths averted over several decades.
Your family doctor is your most trusted resource
Every parent wants to make the best decision for their child with the available information. Your family doctor knows the science-backed facts about diseases and vaccines to help you make these decisions. We can talk you through any questions you have about your or your family’s care and offer our scientific and medical expertise.
Treating parents and their children is one of my professional joys. We all care about our children’s success and health, and if we could bubble our children, we would. Even though we can’t do it, I tell my patients that vaccines are the next best defense.
About Dr. Briggs
Emily Briggs, MD, MPH, FAAFP, has delivered more than 1,000 babies since opening a private practice in Northeast San Antonio more than 15 years ago, where she practices holistic family medicine.
