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About Hepatitis B, Hepatitis B Prevention

What’s the Difference: Hepatitis A vs Hepatitis B

With five different types of viral hepatitis, it can be difficult to understand the differences between them. Some forms of hepatitis get more attention than others, but it is still important to know how they are transmitted, what they do, and the steps that you can take to protect yourself and your liver!

This is part two in a three-part series.

What is Hepatitis?

Hepatitis means “inflammation of the liver”. A liver can become inflamed for many reasons, such as too much alcohol, physical injury, autoimmune response, or a reaction to bacteria or a virus. The five most common hepatitis viruses are A, B, C, D, and E. Some hepatitis viruses can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver failure, or even liver cancer. Damage to the liver reduces its ability to function and makes it harder for your body to filter out toxins.

Hepatitis A vs. Hepatitis B

While hepatitis A and B both impact the liver, the two viruses differ greatly from one another. Hepatitis B is a blood-borne pathogen; its primary mode of transmission is through direct blood-to-blood contact with an infected person. In contrast, hepatitis A can be spread by fecal-oral transmission or by consuming food or water that has been contaminated. It is important to note that a person cannot contract hepatitis B through casual interactions such as holding hands, sharing a meal with, or eating foods prepared by someone who is infected. There is no need to keep plates and utensils separate. However, hepatitis A can be spread through food that is prepared by an infected person. Hepatitis A is primarily caused by poor sanitation and personal hygiene. Poor sanitation and hygiene can be the result of a lack of essential infrastructure like waste management or clean water systems. It can also result from a lack of education.

Hepatitis A is an acute infection; the virus typically stays in the body for a short amount of time and most people make a full recovery after several weeks. Recently, the United States has seen a rise in hepatitis A infections. The rise is partially attributed to a growing homeless population and increases in injection drug use. You can track hepatitis A outbreaks in the United States by using this map.

Unlike hepatitis B, which rarely has symptoms, people infected with hepatitis A generally develop symptoms four weeks after exposure. However, children under the age of 6 often do not show any symptoms. Oftentimes, an infected adult will experience nausea, vomiting, fever, dark urine, or abdominal pain. Older children and adults with hepatitis A will typically experience jaundice, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Once a person makes a recovery, they cannot be reinfected. Their body develops protective antibodies that will recognize the virus and fight it off if it enters their system again. Hepatitis A rarely causes lasting liver damage, but in a small percentage of individuals, it can cause acute liver failure called fulminant hepatitis. Some people with hepatitis A feel ill enough that they need to be hospitalized to receive fluids and supportive care.

On the other hand, hepatitis B begins as a short-term infection, but in some cases, it can progress into a chronic, or life-long, infection. Chronic hepatitis B is the world’s leading cause of liver cancer and can lead to serious liver diseases such as cirrhosis or liver cancer. Most adults who become infected with hepatitis B develop an acute infection and will make a full recovery in approximately six months. However, about 90% of infected newborns and up to 50% of young children will develop a life-long infection. This is because hepatitis B can be transmitted from an infected mother to her baby due to exposure to her blood. Many infected mothers do not know they are infected and therefore cannot work with their physicians to take the necessary precautions to prevent transmission. It is extremely important for all pregnant women to get tested for the hepatitis B – if they are infected, transmission to their baby can be prevented!

There are vaccines to protect people against both hepatitis A and hepatitis B. If you are unvaccinated and believe that you have been exposed to hepatitis A, you should contact your doctor or local health department to get tested. If you were exposed by consuming contaminated food, the health department can work with you to identify the source of exposure and prevent a potential outbreak. Depending on the situation and when you were exposed, your doctor may administer postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to help prevent the infection or lessen its impact. For hepatitis A, PEP is given in the form of one dose of the vaccine or immune goblin.

For unvaccinated individuals, PEP is also recommended after a possible exposure to hepatitis B and is usually given as a dose of the vaccine. In certain cases, a physician will recommend that a patient receive both the vaccine and a dose of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) for additional protection. As recommended by the CDC, all infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen positive mothers (HBsAg positive) should receive both a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine and a dose of HBIG within 12 hours of birth in order to prevent transmission. As timing is crucial in the prevention of disease, a healthcare provider should be notified as quickly as possible after a potential exposure.

Prevention

Hepatitis A and B vaccines can protect you for life! The hepatitis A vaccine is given in 2-doses over the span of six months and the hepatitis B vaccine is given in 3-doses over the course of six months; there is even a 2-dose hepatitis B vaccine now available in the U.S.! You can also ask your doctor about getting the combination vaccine for hepatitis A and B together, which will reduce the number of shots you need.

The CDC recommends that people living with chronic hepatitis B also get vaccinated for hepatitis A to protect themselves against another liver infection and potential liver damage. While the hepatitis A vaccine is routinely given to children in the United States, other countries have different vaccine recommendations, so check with your doctor to see if you have been vaccinated. Hepatitis A can also be prevented by good hygiene practices like washing your hands with soap and hot water after using the bathroom or before preparing food, but the best form of prevention is always vaccination!

Hepatitis B Prevention

A Valuable Tool Against Chronic Hepatitis B Goes Unused in Many Developing Countries

Image courtesy of tuelekza at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Image courtesy of tuelekza at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

By Christine Kukka

A critical tool that stops the spread of nearly half of all new chronic hepatitis B infections is still unavailable in many developing countries – the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose.

When the hepatitis B vaccine is immediately administered to a baby born to a hepatitis B-infected mother, it stops the terrible spread of hepatitis B to a new generation.

But this vaccine remains unavailable and financially out-of-reach for many parents in rural areas of Africa, Asia and other regions.

“In Ghana, even if parents know where to find the vaccine, the cost sometimes deters them from accessing it,” said Theobald Owusu-Ansah of the Hepatitis B Foundation of Ghana.   “And when midwives help mothers deliver their babies in their homes, they do not have the vaccine with them because it must be refrigerated.”

While a global childhood immunization program, sponsored by the global vaccine alliance GAVI, has saved millions of lives, the hepatitis B birth dose remains a critical, missing piece of its otherwise successful global immunization strategy.

Image courtesy of africa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Image courtesy of africa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

To effectively prevent mother-to-child (perinatal) transmission of hepatitis B, the single-dose hepatitis B vaccine must be administered within 12 to 24* hours of birth. In about 90 percent of cases, this vaccine effectively prevents infection, unless the mother’s viral load is extremely high.**

Today, GAVI funds and promotes the pentavalent vaccine, which prevents five diseases including hepatitis B, for nearly all children in developing countries. But here’s the catch, the earliest the first dose of the pentavalent vaccine can be administered is six weeks of age because it contains the diphtheria vaccine. This is far too late to prevent perinatal hepatitis B infection.

GAVI’s pentavalent vaccine makes economic and medical sense. One vaccine that prevents several diseases lowers manufacturing and shipping costs and requires fewer injections. Indeed, widespread immunization with GAVI’s pentavalent vaccine in 73 developing countries has prevented 7 million deaths, but it doesn’t prevent chronic hepatitis B acquired at birth.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has made eradication of hepatitis B by 2030 a major goal, but it is unattainable unless perinatal infection is prevented.

Without GAVI’s financing or promotion of the hepatitis B birth dose, many developing countries have done little to promote the birth dose, despite their high rates of hepatitis B. According to the WHO, in 2015, 8.4 million babies were born in African countries that did not provide the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

In addition to a lack of political will on the part of GAVI and these countries, there are other barriers to distributing the hepatitis B birth vaccine. As Owusu-Ansah explained, about one-third of births in his native Ghana  and about 45 percent of all births in Africa take place without a healthcare worker or midwife present.

Volunteers from the Rann India Foundation teach villagers about hepatitis B testing and prevention in India.
Volunteers from the Rann India Foundation teach villagers about hepatitis B testing and prevention in India.

Suren Surender, founder and president of the Rann Bhoomi Foundation, which educates rural villagers in India about hepatitis B prevention, added that even when healthcare workers are present at childbirths, “there is a lack of knowledge about birth dose administration and there is also a lack of community awareness about the benefits of getting the birth dose.”

Having a global leader like GAVI lend financial and strategic support for the hepatitis B birth vaccine would go far to chip away at these high perinatal infection rates in rural regions. In 2013, GAVI and the global vaccine alliance explored funding the hepatitis B birth dose as part of its Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS),  but officials decided not to fund it.

According to a GAVI spokeswoman, the key deterrent was implementation — getting the refrigerated vaccine birth dose to rural areas within hours of a child’s birth – rather than cost.

“Many births in GAVI-supported countries do occur outside health facilities,” she noted. “Indeed, coverage of hepatitis B birth dose in many countries delivering this intervention is low. Ultimately, the Vaccine Investment Strategy analysis and consultations recommended that (GAVI) should focus its limited resources on other high-impact vaccines at the time.”

However, research suggests the hepatitis B vaccine may be effective for several days or weeks in warm climates without refrigeration, which could increase their use in rural regions if there was more financial and political support.

In 2018, GAVI will reconsider potential support for the hepatitis B birth dose when it develops a new Vaccine Investment Strategy, with a decision expected in late 2018.

GAVI’s support for the birth vaccine is needed immediately. Only GAVI has the resources and political clout to help countries realign their immunization policies to allow the next generation of children born to hepatitis B-infected parents to live without liver disease.

*North American medical guidelines recommend the first hepatitis B vaccine dose be administered within 12 hours of birth, while WHO recommends the vaccine be given within 24 hours of birth.

**The addition of a dose of HBIG (hepatitis B antibodies) along with the vaccine raises the prevention rate a few percentage points. However, the vaccine alone is highly effective.

Hepatitis B Advocacy, Hepatitis B Prevention

A Hero Takes the Fight Against Hepatitis B to Rural Ghana

A street scene in Ghana. Photo by Ebenezer Akakpo.
A street scene in Ghana. Photo by Ebenezer Akakpo.

By Christine Kukka

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, ebola and malaria have infected and killed millions in Sub-Saharan Africa , but another infection, more silent and insidious, has also destroyed millions of African lives yet has received little attention from the global community—hepatitis B.

A recent article in The Lancet medical journal estimates that between 5 and 20 percent of the 1 billion Africans in this region have been infected with hepatitis B and 5 percent are chronically infected.

The region lacks the healthcare workers and resources to educate, screen and immunize people for hepatitis B, and there are few medical centers or drugs available to treat those infected. In a cruel twist of fate, many people find out about their hepatitis B when they attempt to donate blood.

A road in northern Ghana. Photo by Ebenezer Akakpo.
A road in northern Ghana. Photo by Ebenezer Akakpo.

“It was on one fateful day in 2007, during my second year in college, when I decided to donate blood to help save the lives of pregnant mothers who undergo complications during deliveries,” wrote one young man who now works with the Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana. “Everything was OK, until the lab technician called out my name and told me they cannot let me complete the processes because my blood was ‘incompatible.’ He later handed me a fact sheet on hepatitis and requested that I read it thoroughly,” he recalled. “I felt so confused and didn’t know what to do. I thought I would be referred to see a physician for counseling but no, nothing. Not knowing what to do, I decided to educate myself.”

He went online and read several articles about hepatitis B. He learned the importance of avoiding alcohol and smokin and eating healthy foods. “In 2009, I took another test that revealed I was in the chronic stage of the infection,” he recalled. “Even the health professionals at that facility couldn’t explain what that really meant. I was confused and didn’t know if I was going to die or not.”

A year later, he had another test that showed the infection was not currently causing any liver damage. “I live in a community and country where the level of awareness about hepatitis is very low,” he explained. “The majority of the people are ignorant about the situation. I have lost some family members as a result of the disease.”

His research led him to the foundation in Ghana. “I no longer feel left alone. I now feel I have someone whom I could call upon for any information or seek clarification concerning my situation. Not only me, but for my community too,” he wrote.

The foundation, established by Theobald Owusu-Ansah, is attempting to educate people about hepatitis B to stop an infection that is killing thousands in Ghana. In Africa, hepatitis B is commonly spread during childbirth, through re-used syringes due to scarce medical resources and sexually. A lack of knowledge about hepatitis B and how it is spread, especially among healthcare workers and midwives, has also helped spread the disease.

Owusu-Ansah established the foundation in 2007 after four of his family members died from hepatitis B. He realized he had to take action to educate people about this deadly infection and get better treatment for people living with hepatitis B. Here is his story about a young woman diagnosed while attending nursing school.

Theobald Owusu-Ansah, president of the Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana
Theobald Owusu-Ansah, president of the Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana

“Initially, someone had put her on some herbal preparations and told her they would cure her ailment after she was first diagnosed with hepatitis B,” he recalled. Owusu-Ansah spent hours educating her about hepatitis B and she went for tests, which revealed she had liver damage. She was referred to a physician who prescribed the antiviral tenofovir (Viread) and recommended regular monitoring. After several months of treatment, her liver was healthy and her viral load was undetectable.

Years passed, she married and became pregnant. Osusu-Ansah reminded her that her babies would be protected against hepatitis B if they immediately received the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine and HBIG within 12 hours of birth.

But things went wrong. She had stopped taking tenofovir. Her midwife gave her an herbal remedy for hepatitis B and told her the vaccine would be enough to protect the baby. It wasn’t, the baby became infected. The mother was devastated.

“Her story is not so different from many others’ experiences in some parts of Ghana,” he explained. “The unavailability of HBIG and the vaccine is challenging, and even when they are available, very few can afford them.”

In Ghana, and many other regions of Africa, the only vaccines available for free are combination (pentavalent) vaccines that contain vaccines for hepatitis B, diphtheria and other diseases. While economical, these combination vaccines cannot be administered until a baby is at least six weeks old, which is too late to prevent mother-to-child infection.

To break the infection cycle, a single dose (monovalent) hepatitis B vaccine must be administered within 12 hours of birth.

“I believe something can be done about this,” said Owusu-Ansah. “With government support, we need to expand our education campaigns to cover rural areas and take the message of hope to their doorsteps.”

For more information about the Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana, visit its website or email theobald2003@yahoo.com.

Baruch S. Blumberg Institute