Babies born to mothers with hepatitis B

Babies born to mothers with hepatitis B

HBV (hepatitis B virus) infection of babies is usually transmitted from a mother infected with HBV to her baby during delivery and not before birth. Unfortunately, hepatitis B in newborns is often asymptomatic and tends to become chronic. For this reason, immunoprophylaxis of a newborn born to an HBsAg positive mother is very important and vital and is done in two ways:

HBV vaccination.
HBIG injection up to 12 hours after birth.

The risk of HBV transmission from a seropositive mother in terms of HBsAg and HBe Ag to her baby is 70-90% during delivery. While the risk of transmission in a mother with positive HBsAg, negative HBe Ag and positive anti HBe to her baby is 5-20%. Therefore, the risk of vertical transmission from infected mothers depends on their serological status. Based on this, HBs Ag mothers The positive ones are divided into five groups in terms of the risk of transmission to babies, and according to the grouping of mothers, the indication of vaccination and immunoprophylaxis of babies is determined:

1st group: HBsAg positive and HBeAg positive mothers are considered high risk and neonates in this group are indicated for HBV vaccine and HBIG injection.

2nd group: HBsAg-positive, HBeAg-negative, anti-HBe-negative mothers are in the High Risk group, and babies in this group are indicated for HBV vaccine and HBIG injection.

3rd group: Mothers who are HBsAg positive but their HEV serological markers have not yet been determined are also in the high risk group. Babies in this group are indicated for both HBV vaccine and HBIG.

4th group: Mothers who were infected with acute hepatitis B infection during pregnancy are also in the high risk group in terms of HBV transmission to their babies. In this group, babies are indicated for both HBV vaccine and HBIG injection.

5th group: mothers who are both HBsAg positive and anti HBe positive; They are placed in the Low Risk group, and for the babies of these mothers, only HBV vaccination is indicated, and HBIG injection is not indicated.

Indications for HBIG injection
HBIG ampoule is an HBV immunoglobulin prepared from human plasma with a high concentration of anti-HBs (100,000 per mL) and is very effective in HBV prophylaxis and is often injected together with hepatitis B vaccine.

Indications for prescribing HBIG are:
A baby born to an HBsAg positive mother
Sexual contact with HBsAg positive people
Infants less than 12 months of age who have HBsAg positive family members
HBV prophylaxis is recommended in liver transplant recipients, needle sticks, and people bitten by animals

This post is written by jm30303030