New CDC Guidance for Evaluating Health-Care Personnel for Hepatitis B Virus Protection

CDC Guidance for Evaluating Health-Care Personnel for Hepatitis B Virus Protection and for Administering Postexposure Management

The document provides a comprehensive review of the epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among healthcare personnel (HCP), updated information about the persistence of anti-HBs antibody following vaccination and the duration of vaccine-induced protection, and new information about HCP serologic testing and postexposure prophylaxis. Explicit guidance is provided for persons working, training, or volunteering in healthcare settings who have documented hepatitis B (HepB) vaccination years before hire or matriculation (e.g., when HepB vaccination was received as part of routine infant [recommended since 1991] or catch-up adolescent [recommended since 1995] vaccination.

The document also updates recommendations made in the 2011 Immunization of Health-Care Personnel recommendations (MMWR 2011;60[RR-7]) and the 2006 adult hepatitis B vaccine ACIP recommendations (MMWR 2006;55[RR-16]).

Additional information can be found in the March 2014 issue of IAC’s Needle Tips (see pages 22-23).