Pregnancy and Hepititis B

[babyluvs2]

I just found out that the 2nd blood test they did to screen for Hep B came back Positive (Antigen).  What does this mean? Will it effect my unborn child? I am currently nursing my 15 month old who never had the vaccine.  (At the time I was to concerned about the side effects) Is this curable? I am just devestated! Please HELP! Thank you.

[jboyhk]

What country do you live in?

When your current baby is born, they can give a vaccine immediately so that it isn't transmitted from you. Your other child should have had the same if the dr's knew you had HepB.

Have you checked the Hep B status of your existing child?

[zellyf]

This is an old thread but I wanted to post my experience for anyone looking for an answer to this question. I'm really more of a sub-layperson than anything but I do have some experience with this subtopic.

Hepatitis B can be transmitted in-utero but my understanding is that it is quite rare. More typically, the transmission occurs during actual delivery where its pretty much a free-for-all with the bodily fluids.  Anyone should correct me if I am wrong.

At birth, or within the first 12 hours of birth, the child should be given a dose of gamma globulin and the first of the three Hep B vaccinations.  This seems to be effective over 90% of the time.  

I was diagnosed as chronic inactive Hep B during my first pregnancy which was a huge shock.  I have three children.  The last one I delivered 2.5 years ago so I'm not sure if much has changed since then.  All were given the shots at birth, in fact, I did not stop asking about the shots until I saw them administered with my own eyes. I did not want to wait 12 hours when 12 minutes seemed just as good.   I was told by an internist who consulted with someone at Stanford, that I could safely breastfeed the children, which I did.  None of my children are infected.

One thing: my pediatrician repeatedly insisted, in response to my repeated inquiries, that we did not need to check their titers or test to see if they had surface antibodies, that we could assume they were fine.  Big mistake.  When the Health Department finally got on his case about us, my older 2 kids were past the point of the titer being very accurate and they came up  as possible non-responders which would have meant they weren't protected by the vaccination.  This was a stressful time for me and my husband.  They had to repeat the last of the three-part series and they responded nicely.  Get the titers done on time and save yourself the worry.