Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program
The County of San Diego Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program
provides case management and support to local mothers and medical
providers with the goal of preventing perinatal, or mother-to-baby,
transmission of hepatitis B virus infection.
Hepatitis B
is a viral liver disease that can be spread via:
- sexual transmission
- injection drug use
- blood borne/body fluid exposures
- mother to baby at birth
Individuals that are diagnosed with hepatitis B may be asymptomatic or can experience symptoms such as fatigue, fever, yellow skin and eyes (jaundice), abdominal pain, and change in color of stool.
When an infant is born to a hepatitis B positive mother, 70-95% of those infants will develop a chronic infection if they do not receive the appropriate vaccines at birth and early childhood. Chronic hepatitis B can cause many health issues including liver cancer, liver failure, and death.
Program Objectives and Services
- Provide case management for hepatitis B positive pregnant women and their infants.
- Educate medical providers, birth hospitals, and hepatitis B infected pregnant women and their close contacts.
- Coordinate with birth hospitals to promote implementation of national perinatal hepatitis B prevention recommendations.
- Screen and vaccinate at-risk close contacts.
- Provide technical assistance, consultation, resources, and coordination of services.
About the Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “funds 64 jurisdictions to identify pregnant persons infected with hepatitis B virus and to manage their infants to improve receipt of post-exposure prophylaxis, hepatitis B vaccine series completion, and post-vaccination serologic testing." For outcome data and additional information, please click here.
The following jurisdictions participate in the program
- All 50 US States
- District of Columbia
- 5 cities - Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Antonio
- 5 territories - American Samoa, Guam, N. Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
The California Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program (CA PHBPP) is managed by CDPH. The program was established in 1991 to provide resources and technical support to local health departments (LHD) for perinatal hepatitis B prevention and to provide surveillance for perinatal hepatitis B cases. In California, all 58 counties and three city public health departments are enrolled in the program.
If you have any questions, please do
not hesitate to contact us at 866-358-2966 and select 'option 5' to
speak to a public health nurse or email us at
PHS-PerinatalHepB.HHSA@sdcounty.ca.gov
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