MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports
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This report contains CDC guidance that augments the 2011 recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for evaluating hepatitis B protection among health-care personnel (HCP) and administering post-exposure prophylaxis. Explicit guidance is provided for persons working, training, or volunteering in health-care settings who have documented hepatitis B (HepB) vaccination years before hire or matriculation (e.g., when HepB vaccination was received as part of routine infant [recommended since 1991] or catch-up adolescent [recommended since 1995] vaccination). In the United States, 2,890 cases of acute hepatitis B were reported to CDC in 2011, and an estimated 18,800 new cases of hepatitis B occurred after accounting for underreporting of cases and asymptomatic infection. ⋯ Certain institutions test vaccinated HCP by measuring anti-HBs upon hire or matriculation, even when anti-HBs testing occurs greater than 2 months after vaccination. This guidance can assist clinicians, occupational health and student health providers, infection-control specialists, hospital and health-care training program administrators, and others in selection of an approach for assessing HBV protection for vaccinated HCP. This report emphasizes the importance of administering HepB vaccination for all HCP, provides explicit guidance for evaluating hepatitis B protection among previously vaccinated HCP (particularly those who were vaccinated in infancy or adolescence), and clarifies recommendations for postexposure management of HCP exposed to blood or body fluids.