Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Ward, MD 1 ; Noele P. Nelson, MD 1 View author affiliations. Hepatitis B virus HBV is transmitted via blood or sexual contact. Persons with chronic HBV infection are at increased risk for cirrhosis and liver cancer and require medical care.
ACIP recommends vaccination of adults at risk for HBV infection, including universal vaccination of adults in settings in which a high proportion have risk factors for HBV infection and vaccination of adults requesting protection from HBV without acknowledgment of a specific risk factor.
These recommendations also provide CDC guidance for postexposure prophylaxis following occupational and other exposures. This report also briefly summarizes previously published American Association for the Study of Liver Diseasest guidelines for maternal antiviral therapy to reduce perinatal HBV transmission.
Hepatitis B virus HBV is transmitted through percutaneous i. HBV is highly infectious, can be transmitted in the absence of visible blood 1 , 2 , and remains viable on environmental surfaces for at least seven days 3. Persons with chronic infection e. It also contains updates to recommendations for the prevention of HBV infection in the United States.
A list of frequently used abbreviations is provided Box 1. This report updates and supplants ACIP recommendations for HepB vaccination of children and adults published previously 7 , 8.
