When pregnant women have hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is a viral infection that affects the health of the liver. Hepatitis B virus is transmitted by contact with blood or body fluids or through condom-free sex. In particular, women can transmit hepatitis B virus to their babies during normal birth or cesarean section.

Hepatitis B can also spread when the body's blood, semen or other fluid from a person infected with the virus enters the body of a healthy person. When pregnant women are infected with the hepatitis B virus can be transmitted to the fetus. In the first 3 months of pregnancy, the infection rate from mother to child is 1%, if the mother is sick in the middle 3 months of pregnancy, the infection rate to the child is 10% and will increase the infection rate to 60-70% if the mother is sick in the last 3 months of pregnancy. The virus is highly contagious and easily penetrates damaged skin or in soft tissues such as the nose, mouth and eyes. Hepatitis B virus can even be infected with a small amount of blood.

Hepatitis B virus infection hardly causes any problems that endanger you or the fetus during pregnancy. It is important for your doctor to be aware of your hepatitis B infection to monitor your health and protect your baby from post-birth hepatitis B virus infection.

For pregnant women infected with hepatitis b, this suggests that in the blood there is already a hepatitis B virus and is capable of transmiting it to the child during pregnancy or labor.

In these cases, the doctor will protect the child by vaccinating the child with hepatitis B-specific immunoglobulin (Hepatitis B Immune Globulin, abbreviated as HBIG) immediately after birth. These initial injections will help your baby protect from hepatitis B virus. Both vaccines and immunoglobulins are safe and effective products so mothers with hepatitis B can safely breastfeed, as long as the baby has been given immunoglobulins and vaccines.

At the next injections, the child will need to continue vaccinating against hepatitis at 6 weeks, 3 months and 5 months of age. This vaccine protects 95% of children from hepatitis B infection.

At the age of nine months, the child will need a blood test to check the effectiveness of protection against hepatitis B or a child who has been infected with the virus. If the child does not have a protective antibody, the doctor will prescribe him two more shots of the hepatitis B vaccine.

Failure to treat hepatitis B and HBIG vaccines can occur in women who test positive for HBeAg and have a very high viral load, so there is a high likelihood that hepatitis B can be transmitted to the fetus. Viral loads greater than 200,000 IU/mL or 1 million cp/ml show that the combination of hepatitis B and HBIG vaccines injected at birth may have failed. Therefore, first the maternity will be treated with antiviral drugs such as tenofovir, which will then be used antiviral drugs including telbivudine or lamivudine. Treatment with antiviral drugs begins at the 28-32 week and continues 3 months after birth.

Share99 International Health Hub uses a source of high quality vaccines, of clear origin, suitable for the age of vaccination, ensuring safety from inspection and preservation to use. Before vaccination, all clients are screened for pre-vaccination with specialists to ensure the best health when vaccinating. 100% of vaccination customers are monitored and re-evaluated before leaving. In particular, the post-vaccination monitoring room is fully equipped with emergency facilities; doctors and nurses are trained in emergency treatment of counter-toilets to ensure timely and correct treatment when incidents occur.

Source: Cdc.gov, Healthed.govt.nz