Newsday: Hepatitis A vaccine aimed at younger kids

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Hepatitis A vaccine aimed at younger kids

BY ELLEN MITCHELL

Special to Newsday

May 30, 2006

Recently, three girls in a fifth-grade class in a New Jersey school

were diagnosed with hepatitis A. The news comes at a time when

pediatricians around the country are recommending that babies as young

as 12 months old be vaccinated to protect against the virus that causes

hepatitis A.

The disease triggers liver inflammation. Though it's generally much

less serious than both hepatitis B and C, each year about 30,000

Americans, including children, contract hepatitis A, and 50 die of the

disease, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Symptoms of hepatitis A can include fever, jaundice, nausea and

vomiting. They are usually less severe in young children than in

adults, but a vomiting baby is more likely to become dehydrated than an

adult.

Hepatitis A is highly contagious. Some people do not realize when they

have a mild case of the disease, which they can spread. The virus can

be transmitted in food or water. It is present in the stool of those

infected and can spread easily if they fail to wash their hands

thoroughly. Typically, one hears of outbreaks in restaurants stemming

from an infected food handler. A tot in a day-care center could easily

infect other children.

Until recently, hepatitis A vaccine was not recommended for children

under age 2 unless they lived or traveled in a high-risk environment.

Within the past nine months, however, the Food and Drug Administration

has approved two drugs, Vaqta (Merck & Co.) and Havrix

(GlaxoKline) for universal use in vaccinating all babies as young

as 12 months old against hepatitis A. Both vaccines are formulated from

inactivated hepatitis A virus, which has been rendered incapable of

cauing the disease. Both require two shots, six months apart.

Neither Nassau nor Suffolk county has seen an increase in cases of

hepatitis A, a disease physicians must report to health authorities. Of

course, cases go unrecorded if the person does not seek medical help.

Still, Nassau reported 53 cases in 1996 and only 25 in 2005. Suffolk's

cases ran low until 2001, when the number rose to 71, primarily because

of infection among gay men. In 2005, Suffolk's reported cases dropped

to only 11.

Why then the need to add yet another vaccination to all those babies

already receive?

" The reason is we travel so much, " said Dr. Dillon, director

of communicable diseases for the Suffolk County Department of Health.

Hepatitis A is prevalent in many locations around the world, and " we

have to protect people not just when they are here, but when they are

in other countries as well, " Dillon said. She added that very young

children in school settings cannot be depended upon to cleanse away the

virus by washing their hands.

Dr. McDonagh, chief of pediatrics at Huntington Hospital,

recommends the vaccine in his private practice.

" I tell parents there are no serious side effects in their child

getting the shots, and while there is no great risk of their child

being exposed to hepatitis A in the near future, you never know.

Looking at risk and potential benefit, it makes sense to do it, "

McDonagh said.

At this point, hepatitis A vaccine for babies has FDA approval and is

recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is not yet

mandated by New York State before a child's entry into school, as are

other vaccines.

McDonagh has been suggesting the hepatitis A vaccine routinely for the

past month and finds that about half the parents opt to have their

children get the shots.

To learn more, contact the CDC at 800-232-2522 or www.

cdc.gov/hepatitis, or the Vaccine Education Center at Children's

Hospital of Philadelphia,

http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75737.