"If that happens, pediatricians say, the health consequences could be dire. "It would be extremely dangerous," Dr. Andrew Pavia told NPR this year. He's a professor of pediatrics and medicine with the University of Utah and a pediatric and adult infectious disease specialist. The hepatitis B virus attacks the liver. The disease has no cure, and chronic infection can lead to serious outcomes such as liver cancer, cirrhosis and death."
""About 25% of children who develop chronic hepatitis B will die of their infection," says Pavia, who is also a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Delaying the birth dose by just two months could result in at least 1,400 additional preventable cases of hepatitis B for each year the revised recommendation is in place, according to a new analysis."
Newborn hepatitis B vaccination has been routine in the U.S. for over thirty years. An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to vote on rescinding the universal newborn recommendation, a change that could increase infections. Hepatitis B attacks the liver, has no cure, and chronic infection can cause liver cancer, cirrhosis, and death; risks are much higher for people infected as infants. About 25% of children who develop chronic hepatitis B will die from their infection. Analyses estimate delaying the birth dose by two months could add at least 1,400 cases annually, and delaying until age 12 could add at least 2,700 cases per year. Before universal vaccination began in 1991, roughly 18,000 children were infected before age 10 each year, about half via mother-to-child transmission. Administering the vaccine immediately after birth prevents the virus from taking hold.
Read at www.npr.org
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