Viral hepatitis is considered the most common and dangerous disease in the world. The severity of the disease, its duration and consequences are impossible to predict.
The worst thing here is that any liver pathology affects all internal organs and systems, posing a serious threat to life. The most dangerous hepatitis are viruses of the group and.
If most people suffer from hepatitis A (Botkin's disease) in childhood, and this disease does not pose a great danger, then other types of viruses have a much worse effect on the body. Hepatitis C or B, if not treated in a timely manner, becomes chronic, leading to the complete destruction of liver cells. Today, more than 25% of the population is infected with the B virus.
Hepatitis A
This is the least dangerous type of this pathological condition. The sources of the virus are contaminated water, food, common objects and the sick person himself.
Botkin's disease does not pose a serious threat, but in the absence of adequate therapy, liver failure often develops - a very serious disorder, the consequence of which can be coma and death.
The initial stage of the disease is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, increased body temperature, discomfort and pain in the right hypochondrium.
With the development of the pathological process, the skin and sclera turn yellow, urine becomes jaundiced, and feces become discolored.
The patient must remain in the infectious diseases department for a month. Final recovery occurs after six months. A long recovery period, a feeling of weakness, adherence to a strict diet - all this does not have the best effect on the quality of life.
Hepatitis A vaccination
Experts recommend vaccination against hepatitis A in cases where one of the relatives or close associates has been diagnosed with Botkin's disease or is planning to travel to countries where this infection is widespread.
In addition, health workers, employees of preschool institutions, and employees of public catering establishments are at risk; they are also recommended to be vaccinated against hepatitis A.
The vaccine should be administered 10-14 days before the expected departure date, this is necessary so that immunity has time to form. If there has been contact with sick people, the vaccine must be administered within the first 10 days.
Before immunization, a blood test is performed. The detected antibodies indicate that the person has either already been vaccinated or has “suffered” hepatitis A. In this case, it is impossible to get sick, because lifelong immunity is developed.
Where is the hepatitis A vaccine given? The injection is given intramuscularly, usually in the shoulder. To successfully form strong immunity, vaccination is repeated after 6-18 months. Vaccination against hepatitis A can be done starting at one year of age.
What is important to know about hepatitis vaccination
The hepatitis virus can affect both adults and children. For infection, contact with the blood, urine, saliva or seminal fluid of the carrier is sufficient.
It should be noted that the duration of virus activity on things and objects can last up to 15 days. This means that you can become infected completely by accident, without knowing that the objects were used by an infected person.
That is why it is necessary to vaccinate not only young children, but also adults. If the hepatitis vaccine was not administered in the maternity hospital, you can get vaccinated and develop artificial immunity up to 55 years of age. To avoid a diagnosis of hepatitis, vaccinations must be given according to the schedule.
Vaccine administration is a safe and effective procedure. The active element of the vaccine is a viral protein that activates the immune system, but in no case can become a source of disease.
The administered drug is recombinant: the genetic structure of the virus used is developed artificially using genetic engineering methods. The most popular vaccines today are:
- Euvax B,
- Biovac,
- Shanvak,
- Serum Institute,
- Eberbiovac, etc.
In addition to those listed, combination drugs such as bubo-coc and similar ones can be used. Currently, many names of vaccines are known.
The hepatitis vaccine is given in the muscle. This is usually the outer thigh or upper arm, but not the buttock.
A vaccine administered subcutaneously is considered ineffective and requires repeated administration.
Most often, vaccinations are given against hepatitis B and A. There is no vaccination against hepatitis C, since this virus is constantly mutating. In this regard, the available vaccines are ineffective against it and cannot contribute to the development of immunity.
Reaction to vaccination
A reaction to the hepatitis A vaccine can be manifested by loss of appetite, headache, feeling of weakness, deterioration of the digestive system, muscle pain, itchy skin, and hives.
Side effects of the hepatitis A vaccine may also include redness and swelling of the injection site.
It is important to remember that you cannot lubricate this area of skin with anything. Such a reaction of the body is normal and after a short time all disorders, as a rule, disappear. Otherwise, it is recommended to consult a specialist.
Possible complications after vaccination
Hepatitis A vaccination rarely causes side effects. In most cases, the consequences are associated either with individual intolerance, or with the fact that the patient drank alcohol the day before. It is worth noting that drinking after vaccination is also not recommended. Usually all side effects go away on their own fairly quickly.
Side effects from the hepatitis B vaccine may include the following:
- development of pain in the abdomen and muscles, especially in the injection area,
- nausea, vomiting,
- diarrhea,
- the appearance of a rash,
- burning sensation in the injection area,
- development of allergic reactions (in rare cases, angioedema),
- difficulty breathing, suffocation and loss of consciousness,
- drop in platelet count,
- enlarged lymph nodes,
- convulsions,
- respiratory paralysis,
- meningitis.
In all the described cases, consultation with a specialist is required, especially if the vaccine was given to a child. The appearance of at least one pronounced side effect is a contraindication for further vaccination.
Temperature increase
An increase in temperature to 38 degrees indicates that the body is fighting the pathogen by intensively producing antibodies. If the temperature exceeds this mark or the fever does not subside for a long time, seek medical help immediately.
If the temperature rises, you can take antipyretic drugs, having previously agreed on your choice with your doctor.
Water getting into the injection site
The injection damages the skin, and the injection site itself becomes a kind of “entry” for infections if hygiene rules are not followed.
What happens if you wet this place? Along with water, pathogenic microorganisms can enter the wound, which can provoke an inflammatory process. This is why you should avoid getting water into the wound.
To do this, it is important not to swim in open water or take a shower, bath, or sauna for the next 24 hours.
If it was not possible to avoid getting water, simply blot the injection site with a clean, dry cloth.
Contraindications
To exclude possible complications, a medical examination is required before vaccination. Contraindications to immunization are individual intolerance to the components of the drug and the acute stage of any pathology.
Failure to comply with these conditions can provoke serious complications - damage to the central nervous system, disruption of the functioning of internal organs, Quincke's edema and exacerbation of chronic diseases. In particularly difficult situations, a coma may develop and, as a consequence, death.
Hepatitis A is dangerous, first of all, because a person is a carrier of the pathogenic virus, even if the disease occurs without any symptoms. And vaccination against hepatitis A is the most effective way to prevent infection.
Vaccination of pregnant and lactating women
During pregnancy, it is recommended to minimize any medical interventions, including vaccinations. During the period of bearing a child, vaccination against hepatitis is considered unacceptable.
The exception is those cases when the expectant mother is surrounded by people with this diagnosis.
In the case of breastfeeding women, the decision to vaccinate should be made by the attending physician. The fact is that some experts do not consider lactation a contraindication, while others are categorically against vaccinations at this time.
Hepatitis B
This is a very serious pathology in which the liver is affected and the development of cirrhosis or cancer of the organ is possible.
The hepatitis B virus is transmitted through the biological fluids of an infected person (blood, sweat, urine, etc.). That is, infection is possible through unprotected sexual contact, the use of unsterile medical instruments or manicure accessories that contain particles of the blood of an infected person.
Hepatitis B is quite highly contagious and vaccination can prevent the spread of infection. Vaccination promotes the formation of lasting immunity to this virus.
What to do if you missed your second hepatitis vaccine
A month after the first vaccination, a second vaccination is required. This will allow you to develop full immunity to the virus. If revaccination has not been carried out during this period of time, this can be done later, but no later than 4 months after the first vaccination. In this case, the immune system will be weaker.
If within 4 months the patient still does not receive the second vaccination, it is canceled. The third vaccination is given six months after the first. If immunity is weak, the doctor may raise the question of additional vaccination.
Symptoms
The disease can have both an acute and chronic course. The acute stage of the disease develops some time after infection. Symptoms such as fever, chills, and jaundice of the skin are observed.
Provided intensive therapy is carried out, recovery may occur in 1.5-2 months. Otherwise, the disease enters the chronic stage, which, in turn, can be active or inactive.
In the first case, it is necessary to take antiviral drugs; in the second case, there is no special treatment, but it is still necessary to monitor the course of the pathology.
With an actively developing disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer often occur, especially against the background of alcohol abuse.
However, it is the chronic form of hepatitis B that poses the greatest danger. A sick person experiences causeless weakness, fatigue, and decreased performance, but such symptoms are not permanent and occur periodically, so many people ignore them.
In some cases, nausea, pain in the upper abdomen, muscle and joint pain, and indigestion appear.
With the development of the pathological process, other symptoms appear:
- bleeding gums;
- yellowness of the skin and sclera;
- dark shade of urine;
- increase in liver size;
- weight loss.
To prevent the development of the disease, it is important to vaccinate in a timely manner.
When is the hepatitis B vaccine given? The primary vaccination is done in the maternity hospital, then according to a certain scheme (discussed below).
"Do no harm"
When a patient is sick, the doctor cannot do without assessing the balance of benefits and harms of each of the therapies that can be applied in this case. It is calculated according to the principle: we save a life, and if nothing threatens life, we are guided by the predicted quality of life of the patient in the case of using each of the treatment methods, we choose the option that will ensure its optimal level. We will not, in fact, treat migraines with the guillotine. For a healthy patient, the risk of intervention should be negligible. After all, if the harm of a real disease can be objectively assessed, then in relation to a potential disease it is much more difficult, especially since we do not know whether it will occur at all. But if the patient is a newborn child or an infant whose body is still in the process of adapting to the external environment, even an insignificant risk of medical intervention is not justified, unless we are talking about a baby who is already at risk due to family circumstances.
But maybe the hepatitis B vaccine is absolutely safe? This is what is written on most Russian-language medical websites. The only relatively serious complication that we are warned about is an allergic reaction. In leaflets from foreign manufacturers, however, a little more attention is paid to various manifestations of allergies, including angioedema and anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal. The patient is earnestly asked not to forget to inform the attending physician that he has allergic reactions to yeast. How to find out if a newborn has this problem? Of course, for an allergic reaction to occur, the first stage is necessary - sensitization, that is, the body’s familiarization with a certain substance that the immune system “marks” and subsequently reacts to it as a toxin, although this substance does not pose a danger to a healthy body. An allergic reaction cannot occur with the first dose of the vaccine, but is quite likely after the second at one month of age. (By the way, children in Khakassia died precisely after the second stage of immunization).
For some reason, our translators of information about complications believe that side effects classified as “rare” (not to mention “very rare”) do not deserve the attention of the consumer, and do not report anything about them. Meanwhile, if there is one chance in a thousand that a newborn baby will develop liver failure (a rare complication), a sensible mother will ask a legitimate question: what is the risk that he will get hepatitis B in the first 6 months of life, if I myself do not Am I a carrier of the infection? The baby does not have sexual intercourse, does not hang out in dirty groups that share a syringe, does not visit the dentist or beauty salons, and does not adorn himself with piercings and tattoos. How dangerous is it to postpone this vaccination for a year or at least six months? It is known that a baby's liver needs at least 168 hours after birth to begin functioning properly. Isn’t it better, at least during the period of primary adaptation of all organs and systems, to do without medical intervention, if it is not dictated by a disease that has already befallen the baby? Take a look at Japan's vaccination calendar. The first vaccine is given to the baby at the age of 3 months. It is said that shifting the timing of vaccinations by three months has led to a sharp decline in sudden infant mortality (the death of a child under one year of age due to an unexplained cause) in Japan. Vaccination against hepatitis B is mandatory only if the mother is infected (the first dose - in the maternity hospital, the second - at 2 months). The infant mortality rate in Japan is 3.14:1000. For comparison: in the USA - 7.07:1000, in Russia - 16.53:1000. It is clear that early vaccination is far from the only factor affecting this indicator, but why in matters of vaccination should we adopt not the American, but, for example, the Japanese experience, if their children are healthier? By the way, in the United States, vaccination of newborns against hepatitis B began in 1991. From 1992 to 2005 The Vaccine Events Reporting System (VAERS) reported 36,788 adverse reactions to this vaccine, 14,800 of which were severe enough to require hospitalization in children, some resulted in disability, and 781 were fatal.
Most people who are not experienced in medicine know little about such an adaptive mechanism of our body as the blood-brain barrier. This is a kind of filter, the purpose of which is to protect the brain from foreign substances that could penetrate into it through the bloodstream. At birth, the blood-brain barrier remains immature and continues to form during the first or second year of life. The risk of neurological complications when neurotoxic substances enter the body (and these include aluminum compounds and thimerosal, which are part of the vaccine) in children under one year of age is much higher than in adults or healthy older children. There are scary neurological side effects that are “very rare” (less than 1:10,000), such as, for example, Guillain-Barré syndrome, which manifests itself quite quickly. And if such a misfortune has happened in the family, will the parents be consoled by the fact that their child’s disease is extremely rare? However, the insidiousness of neurological complications lies in the fact that they can develop slowly and become noticeable only when the time comes for the child to speak, play with peers, master simple skills, and then it turns out that something is wrong with him.
Immunization of children
A child can become infected with the hepatitis B virus during childbirth, which is why the vaccine is administered to newborns; there are most often no side effects of hepatitis B vaccination. After a certain period of time, the injection site turns slightly red and a small lump appears.
This reaction to the hepatitis B vaccine does not go beyond the normal range and gradually all side effects disappear. Over the next 2 days after the vaccine is administered, it is necessary to monitor the child’s body temperature, appetite and bowel movements. In isolated cases, more severe consequences of hepatitis B vaccination develop, which manifest themselves:
- severe allergic reaction;
- muscle pain;
- liver failure;
anaphylactic shock.
Vaccine
Vaccination against hepatitis B is carried out in three stages: the first dose is administered to a newborn child during the first 12 hours of life, the second at the age of one month, and the third at the age of 6 months. 9 vaccines are registered in Russia: Engerix B (manufactured by SmithKleinBeecham-Biomed), Euvax (Korean manufacturer under the control of Aventis Pasteur, France), NV-Vax II (Merck Sharp and Dohme BV, the Netherlands), Biovac-B (Wockhardt Ltd. , India), Hepatitis B vaccine (Combiotech Research and Production Company), Hepatitis B Vaccine (Microgen Research and Production Association), Regevak B (MTX CJSC), Shanvak B (Shanta Biotechnics, Pvt. Ltd., India), Eberbiovak NV (Heber Biotec SA, Cuba). All of them were produced by recombination of viral DNA in yeast culture. All contain aluminum hydroxide (or another compound) as an adjuvant, and thimerosal (a mercury derivative, another name is merthiolate) as a preservative. It is said about the Engerix B vaccine that it may contain residual, i.e. very small amounts of thimerosal. It should be noted that in the USA and Western Europe, the mercury preservative thimerosal is no longer used in the production of children's vaccines. By the way, on Russian-language medical resources, information about each vaccine does not always include a complete list of its components.
Here I would like to pause the story about vaccines and make, so to speak, a lyrical digression.
Unfortunately, anyone who tries to criticize the current practice of vaccination is immediately labeled as a “sect” of anti-vaxxers. Admittedly, there are such people among vaccine critics. They sincerely (at least it seems so to an unbiased reader and listener) believe that immunization is a global conspiracy against good people. Making children sick and dependent on drugs for life, reducing the population of Africa and Asia, getting rid of the burden of the poorest part of humanity, making the girls of Nicaragua, Croatia and Russia infertile, destroying all life in Belarus - these are just some of the chilling plans, what the vaccinates bear. Alas, there are a lot of such horror stories on the Internet, so sensible, but far from this topic people often refuse to listen to the arguments of those who advocate safe vaccination, for reasonable medical practices, for an individual (as opposed to a calendar) approach to immunization, believing that their Another conspiracy theory will be brought to your attention. But I’m not going to do anything like that, I just want to try to sensibly assess the balance of benefits and risks of early vaccination against hepatitis B.
Contraindications
In certain situations, children should not receive the hepatitis vaccine. Contraindications to immunization are:
- individual intolerance to the components of the administered drug;
- a pronounced reaction to a previous vaccine.
Temporary vaccination cannot be carried out if:
- digestive system disorder;
- allergic reactions;
- colds;
- high body temperature.
After two weeks, blood and urine tests are performed, and if there are no abnormalities, the vaccine is administered.
Questions parents most often ask:
- Is it possible to bathe a child after hepatitis vaccination?
- On the day of vaccination, it is recommended to refrain from water procedures.
- Is it possible to go for a walk after getting a hepatitis vaccine?
- On the day of vaccination, if you have a high body temperature, you should avoid walking.
Such restrictions are due to the fact that the child’s immunity is slightly reduced and all the body’s forces are aimed at fighting the infection.
The slightest hypothermia or contact with unhealthy people can provoke unwanted complications.
Preparation for vaccination and rules of conduct after vaccination
First of all, you need to understand that you should think about vaccination in advance. It is best to contact your doctor a few days before the procedure and consult with him on this issue. After this, you need to visit a therapist and make sure there are no contraindications.
Since in some cases the temperature may rise after vaccination, it is best to carry out the procedure before the weekend. Immediately after administering the vaccine, remain under the supervision of a specialist for another 30-40 minutes.
Once you return home, the following rules must be followed:
- Avoid visiting places with large crowds of people. Also, for several days after the procedure, refrain from active rest,
- Do not wet the injection site for 24 hours,
- Avoid heavy stress on the body.
The vaccination schedule must be developed in advance together with your doctor. It is also necessary to discuss the choice of drug and its change in case of complications.
Find out in advance how many times the vaccine is given, what the drug is called, and whether you can walk in the fresh air after the procedure.
Adult immunization
The hepatitis B vaccine is given to adults under 55 years of age. Immunization is not mandatory, but it is strongly recommended for certain groups of people. The risk group includes medical and beauty salon workers, drug addicts, people with promiscuous intimate lives, and blood donors.
If a previously vaccinated person has been in contact with the infection, a blood test is performed and the level of antibodies is determined. Based on the information received, the question of the advisability of repeated vaccination is decided.
Negative effects of vaccination and contraindications
Complications after hepatitis B vaccination in adulthood are rare. In certain situations, it is possible to develop an allergy to vaccine components.
Side effects of the hepatitis B vaccine are sometimes manifested by redness, swelling, pain at the injection site, and increased temperature. After vaccination against hepatitis, in isolated cases, headache, dyspeptic disorders, dizziness, and myalgia occur.
In addition, if you are intolerant to nutritional yeast or other components of the drug, allergic reactions may occur.
Colds, fever and allergies are contraindications to vaccination.
Composition of hepatitis B vaccines. How safe are they?
Engerix vaccine
There are many preparations for vaccination, but they all have approximately the same composition, including surface viral protein, traces of yeast, aluminum hydroxide and a preservative. The children's vaccine contains half as much protein as the adult vaccine. The drugs are available in different dosages - from 0.5 ml to 1 ml. Children under 18 years of age are administered 0.5 ml of solution at a time, and adults - 1 ml.
Both domestic vaccines (Microgen, Combiotech) and foreign ones (Biovac-V, Eberbiovak-NV, Engerix, Gene Vac-V) are used. They have absolutely the same composition and effect on the body. Often, doctors can use multicomponent vaccines that include antigens for several diseases at once. Thus, there are drugs against hepatitis B and A, as well as against hepatitis B, diphtheria and tetanus.
Over the entire history of the procedure, no special negative reactions were recorded. The only controversial issue remains the presence of a preservative containing mercury in all preparations, although its content does not exceed a thousandth of a gram.
In some European countries and America, such drugs are prohibited, but in Russia they have been used for quite a long time. Fortunately, today there are many latest generation vaccines that do not contain mercury preservative.
