--- title: Hepatitis A vaccine aimed at younger kids date: 2006-05-30T09:12:59-07:00 author: Bill Marler canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/hepatitis-a-vaccine-aimed-at-younger-kids" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / # Hepatitis A vaccine aimed at younger kids BY ELLEN MITCHELL Special to Newsday May 30, 2006 Recently, three girls in a fifth-grade class in a New Jersey school were diagnosed with hepatitis A. The news comes at a time when pediatricians around the country are recommending that babies as young as 12 months old be vaccinated to protect against the virus that causes hepatitis A. The disease triggers liver inflammation. Though it’s generally much less serious than both hepatitis B and C, each year about 30,000 Americans, including children, contract hepatitis A, and 50 die of the disease, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of hepatitis A can include fever, jaundice, nausea and vomiting. They are usually less severe in young children than in adults, but a vomiting baby is more likely to become dehydrated than an adult. Hepatitis A is highly contagious. Some people do not realize when they have a mild case of the disease, which they can spread. The virus can be transmitted in food or water. It is present in the stool of those infected and can spread easily if they fail to wash their hands thoroughly. Typically, one hears of outbreaks in restaurants stemming from an infected food handler. A tot in a day-care center could easily infect other children. Until recently, hepatitis A vaccine was not recommended for children under age 2 unless they lived or traveled in a high-risk environment. Within the past nine months, however, the Food and Drug Administration has approved two drugs, Vaqta (Merck & Co.) and Havrix (GlaxoSmithKline) for universal use in vaccinating all babies as young as 12 months old against hepatitis A. Both vaccines are formulated from inactivated hepatitis A virus, which has been rendered incapable of cauing the disease. Both require two shots, six months apart. Neither Nassau nor Suffolk county has seen an increase in cases of hepatitis A, a disease physicians must report to health authorities. Of course, cases go unrecorded if the person does not seek medical help. Still, Nassau reported 53 cases in 1996 and only 25 in 2005. Suffolk’s cases ran low until 2001, when the number rose to 71, primarily because of infection among gay men. In 2005, Suffolk’s reported cases dropped to only 11. Why then the need to add yet another vaccination to all those babies already receive? “The reason is we travel so much,” said Dr. Patricia Dillon, director of communicable diseases for the Suffolk County Department of Health. Hepatitis A is prevalent in many locations around the world, and “we have to protect people not just when they are here, but when they are in other countries as well,” Dillon said. She added that very young children in school settings cannot be depended upon to cleanse away the virus by washing their hands. Dr. Thomas McDonagh, chief of pediatrics at Huntington Hospital, recommends the vaccine in his private practice. “I tell parents there are no serious side effects in their child getting the shots, and while there is no great risk of their child being exposed to hepatitis A in the near future, you never know. Looking at risk and potential benefit, it makes sense to do it,” McDonagh said. At this point, hepatitis A vaccine for babies has FDA approval and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is not yet mandated by New York State before a child’s entry into school, as are other vaccines. 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