STD HEPATITIS A: VACCINE AND IMMUNE GLOBULIN SHOT
If a person has been exposed to someone who has been infected with hepatitis A and may have been infected but has not yet shown symptoms, there is something that can be done. This person can receive the hepatitis A vaccine for future protection and also receive an immune globulin shot, which will provide shorter-term protection against infection about 80-90 percent of the time. (Immune globulin is composed of antibodies to the hepatitis A virus as well as to other infections, which can help to fight off the infection before the person’s own immune system kicks in to combat it.) To be effective, an immune globulin injection must be given within two weeks following the exposure.
The immune globulin injection can also be given to persons traveling to areas where hepatitis A is common and who have not received the vaccine, or in whom the vaccine has not had sufficient time to work. Since the vaccine takes more than two weeks to be effective, immune globulin would be the choice for a person who within two weeks would be traveling to a country with a high risk for infection. Immune globulin has limited effectiveness, however, probably losing its ability to offer protection within three months of the injection.
There is a low risk of problems, such as allergic reactions, from the immune globulin injection. It is usually more painful than the hepatitis A vaccine. Immune globulin is pooled from donated blood; it is screened for hepatitis B and C and human immunodeficiency vims (HIV) infection and routinely treated with chemicals to kill these viruses. It presents a very low risk of transmission of these infections: no cases of transmission of hepatitis B or C or HIV have been reported to date from the immune globulin shot.
It is as safe for pregnant and nursing women, children, and immunosuppressed individuals as for the rest of the population.
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