Vaccine Protects After Hepatitis A Exposure

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research reveals a vaccine administered after exposure to hepatitis A helps prevent the virus from infecting people exposed to the virus.

Researchers from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Kazakhstan Ministry of Heath and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta studied more than 1,000 people who were in household or day-care contact with people who had hepatitis A. About half of the people in the study received a hepatitis A vaccine within two weeks of exposure, while the other half received immune globulin. Immune globulin is known to be highly effective in preventing hepatitis A when given within two weeks of exposure.

Results show hepatitis A developed in 25 (4.4 percent) of the 568 people who received the hepatitis A vaccine, and developed in 17 (3.3 percent) of the 522 people who received immune globulin. Researchers say low rates of hepatitis A in both groups show both hepatitis A vaccine and immune globulin offered good protection after exposure to hepatitis A.

Authors of the study write, “Hepatitis A vaccine offers several advantages over immune globulin, including long-term protection, ease of administration, and widespread availability.”

In an editorial, Carol Baker, M.D., from Baylor College of Medicine in Waco, Texas, writes, “The results provide support for the recent change in U.S. policy to the preference for hepatitis A vaccine over immune globulin for post-exposure prophylaxis in healthy persons 2 to 40 years of age.”

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SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2007;357:1685-1694 and 17