From birth

• Hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver spread through contact with blood or body fluids contaminated with hepatitis B virus (HBV). It occurs worldwide with highest rates of infection reported in the Western Pacific and African regions.
• Risk for most travellers is usually low. However, there is an increased risk associated with certain activities, including:
• Unprotected sex with new partners.
• Occupational risk, such as healthcare work or humanitarian aid work.
• Injecting drug use.
• Travelling for medical reasons or with medical conditions requiring medical treatment whilst overseas.
• Participation in contact sports.
• Adoption of children from intermediate/high risk countries.
• Long-stay travel.
• The risk is typically greater in areas where there is an intermediate to high risk of HBV.
• Most people infected with HBV will have no symptoms or a mild flu-like illness. Symptoms are more common in adults than children and may include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), loss of appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Chronic (long-term) HBV develops in up to 90 percent of children infected in the first year of life and in only five percent of those infected as adults. Chronic infection may lead to liver failure or liver cancer.
• Prevention
• All travellers should avoid contact with blood and bodily fluids by:
• Avoiding unprotected sex.
• Following universal precautions if working in healthcare or other higher risk settings.
• Avoiding tattooing, piercing and acupuncture (unless sterile equipment is used).
• Not sharing needles or other injection equipment.
• Not sharing shaving equipment.
• Any traveller can be at risk of an accident or require emergency treatment; infection control may be inadequate. A sterile medical equipment kit may be helpful when travelling to resource poor areas.
• The vaccine schedule: 3 doses – 0, 1 and 6 months

Length of Protection (after 3^rd dose) – 1 year or more