Friday, December 30, 2011

Should People With Type 2 Diabetes Get Hepatitis B Vaccine?


December 30, 2011 
written by Michael O’Leary
Adults 23 to 59 with type 2 diabetes are about twice as likely to develop hepatitis B, compared to people without diabetes.
Citing that result from an accumulation of data monitored by the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the agency issued a recommendation that all unvaccinated adults under 60 with diabetes should get vaccinated for hepatitis B.
As reported by MedPage Today the CDC published its findings and recommendation in the Dec. 23, issue ofMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Link to published site)

At its October meeting the advisory committee reviewed data from the Emerging Infections Program that showed the substantially higher risk of hepatitis B in diabetic patients. The committee began looking at the risk of HBV infection in diabetic adults in the mid-1990s.
The committee didn’t specify the cause of the higher risk of infection by diabetics, but it suggested that the virus exposure may be related to blood glucose monitoring. The committee noted that in the United States, since 1996, a total of 29 outbreaks of HBV infection in one or multiple long-term–care (LTC) facilities, including nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, were reported to CDC; of these, 25 involved adults with diabetes receiving assisted blood glucose monitoring.
Urging a renewed emphasis on following established infection control practices, the committee wrote that, “Lapses in infection control during assisted blood glucose monitoring that have led to HBV transmission include multi-patient use of finger-stick devices designed for single-patient use, and inadequate disinfection and cleaning of blood glucose monitors between patients,” they wrote.
Hepatitis B is a virus (HBV) that infects the liver and is transmitted through infectious blood or body fluids such as semen or vaginal fluids. It causes inflammation of the liver, vomiting and jaundice. A chronic infection can eventually cause non-alcoholic cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Hepatitis B vaccination usually consists of three doses of vaccine administered by an injection into muscle tissue. The first dose is followed by a second dose one month after the first, and the third is administered six months after the second injection.

No comments:

Post a Comment