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Hepatitis B Immunization Information
Description
A disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV)
Symptoms
Potentially none when first infected (likelihood of early symptoms increase with the person’s age)
If present: yellow skin or eyes, tiredness, stomach ache, loss of appetite, nausea, or joint pain
Complications
The younger the person, the greater the likelihood of staying infected and having life-long liver problems, such as scarring of the liver and liver cancer
Transmission
Spread through contact with the blood of an infected person or by having sex with an infected person
Vaccine
Hepatitis B vaccine will prevent this disease.
As an adult, do I need to be vaccinated for Hepatitis B?
You should get the hepatitis B vaccine if:
- You have had sex with or live in the same house as a person with hepatitis B virus infection.
- You have had sex with more than one partner during the last 6 months.
- You seek care in a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases.
- You are a man who has sex with other men.
- You inject street drugs.
- You have a job that involves contact with human blood.
- You are on the staff of, or a client in, an institution for the developmentally disabled.
- You are a dialysis patient or have end-stage kidney disease.
- You have HIV infection.
- You have chronic liver disease.
- You travel outside the U.S. to regions with intermediate or high rates of hepatitis B virus infection.
Vaccine Information Statement
Hepatitis B Fact Sheet English (pdf)
Hepatitis B Fact Sheet Spanish (pdf)
