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Hepatitis B                   Home > Healthcare Information > Vaccination > Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B Vaccination
1. What is hepatitis B?
Once people are infected with the hepatitis B virus they can easily become chronic carriers of hepatitis B, a serious communicable infectious liver disease. It can lead to serious liver disease such as cirrhoses of the liver and liver cancer. The rate of infection of the liver with hepatitis B virus is decreasing because of vaccination, but it is still higher in Korea than in America or Europe.
2. How is hepatitis B spread?
The hepatitis B virus is spread through the use of infected blood and the exchange of body fluids.
-direct blood-to-blood contact
-unsterilized needles, intravenous drug use, skin-popping (injecting under the skin)
-from infected mother to her baby at birth
-unprotected sex
-Acupuncture using unsterile instruments (tattooing, body piercing, and earrings)
Hepatitis B is not transmitted casually (sneezing, coughing, hugging, sharing with food, or breast-feeding).
3. What are the symptoms of hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B is called “the silence disease," as the patient doesn’t feel a subjective symptom. General symptoms are feeling very tired, fever, aching joints, low appetite, vomiting, jaundice (the white part of the eyeball, or yellowing skin), stomach pain (right upper part of the belly) etc.
4. What is the treatment?
The treatment for acute HBV liver disease is mainly symptomatic. The treatment for chronic HBV is generally limited.
5. How do you prevent hepatitis?
-HBV infection can be prevented through vaccination.
-Who: all newborns through toddlers
-When: Three times, first at birth, second at 1 month, third at 6 month of age
If the infant is born to a mother known to be HBsAg positive, the infant should be given a hepatitis vaccine and HBIG (hepatitis immune globulin) on different injection sites after birth or within 12 hours.
6. What are the side effects of vaccination?
The general side effects include swelling, transient soreness, temporary redness, fever, and inflammation. These mostly disappear in 1, or 2 days.
7. Contact point: Shanna Kim (Product manager of vaccines), biotech@lgls.com