Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Screening Among Pregnant Women and Care of Infants of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen-Positive Mothers - Guam, 2014

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is endemic among adults in the U.S. territory of Guam (1,2). Perinatal HBV transmission, which occurs at birth from an infected mother to her newborn infant, is a major mode of HBV transmission and maintains HBV endemicity (3). Approximately 90% of HBV-infected infants will develop chronic HBV infection, and approximately 25% of those will die prematurely from liver failure or hepatocellular carcinoma (4,5). Since 1988, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that all pregnant women be screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), an indicator of HBV infection, and that infants of women who screen positive (HBsAg-positive women) receive postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) (hepatitis B vaccine and hepatitis B immunoglobulin [HBIG]). When received within 12 hours of birth, PEP is 85%-95% effective in preventing perinatal HBV transmission (5,6). Hepatitis B vaccine provides long-term active immunity to HBV infection and HBIG provides short-term passive immunity to HBV infection until the infant responds to the vaccine (5). Hepatitis B vaccine was introduced into the routine universal infant vaccination schedule in Guam in 1988 (1).