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Is this a valid enough "scare" to get Hep B vax for 3 year old?

post #1 of 11
9/17/12 at 10:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hello all!

Tonight is the first time I have seriously considered whether I should vax my kids for Hep B...
I had a friend over and she has three fantastic boisterous kids, all the picture of health and homeschooled/Jewish private schooled. She had recently moved back from a communal-type situation in Israel. Anyway, our kids were running wild and wrestling as we were having our tea. As they were leaving I noticed dried blood under one of her boys' noses. I asked him if he was ok.
My friend then said that he'd had a nosebleed earlier and he's been getting them frequently.

Then I thought about how HepB can live in dried blood for a week and how the kids were wrestling, so there was a chance my son touched dried blood and then his mouth/eye... Reading the info on how it can be spread by dry blood to mucous membrane is freaking me out and making me worry. Is this a stretch? Of course I have no idea
whether her son is a carrier or not, but I know he is unvaxed and born and raised in Israel in a very off the radar nontraditional setting.

Thoughts? Should I worry? Have my son tested?
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post #2 of 11
9/18/12 at 4:04am

Did she say her son has HepB?  You should ask her since you noticed the blood...yes, it is a far stretch...if her son were truly a carrier and able to spread it thru dried blood drops on his face, dont' you think his mother owes some responsibility in that as well  as in letting people know?   Like, shouldn't she have forewarned people about something like that?    Nosebleeds are often associated with leukemia as well.  

post #3 of 11
9/18/12 at 6:06am
Thread Starter 
She didn't say and I didn't think of it in the moment, but because of her lifestyle and her kids' lack of medical care, I don't think she would know if he was a carrier...
post #4 of 11
9/18/12 at 6:26am

My husband convinced me to get the Hep B vax for our daughter because of scenarios like this which she may encounter as she gets older. If it's not this, it's some kid who bites yours in kindergarten, or a houseguest who borrows the family nail clippers, or dried blood on some random surface sometime, or somebody deciding to play "blood brothers", or ??? I'd feel really bad if my kid ended up with chronic liver disease for the rest of her life because I was delaying this vaccine. It was one thing when she was a tiny baby, but as she gets more mobile she runs into more potential issues. 

 

I am more on the pro-vax side than the selective/delayed. I did select and delay a little, but on the end of the scale that tilts more towards following the schedule. 

post #5 of 11
9/18/12 at 6:32am

Does the vax work retroactively? 

post #6 of 11
9/18/12 at 2:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma View Post

Does the vax work retroactively? 

I don't know...Seems like it might according to research. I just HATE what's in it and was hoping to not give it until his preteen years.... Now I'm just questioning my choice...
post #7 of 11
9/18/12 at 3:35pm

here is some info on Hep B

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hepatitis-b/DS00398/DSECTION=symptoms

post #8 of 11
9/18/12 at 9:59pm

My oldest daughter had all 3 sets of hep b shots in the series.  She is vaccine injured and has no immunity to hep b (we had her titers tested).

 

I don't find any vaccine to be worth the risk.

post #9 of 11
9/28/12 at 6:55pm

Hep B is bloodborne, so the other child would have to have been exposed as well.  Even though it CAN live for a long time in dried blood, there have not been any reported cases where they have identified that as a transmission source.  I would not be overly anxious.

 

As far as the titers go, Hep B vax will only register titers after a booster or exposure.  Most people who have had the vax will test negative on titers if they are not taken immediately after a booster.  However, there are many medical providers who still to titers for Hep B at random intervals.

post #10 of 11
9/28/12 at 8:27pm

I think it's a stretch, but my Qs will show how little I know about this stuff...  I'm wondering, if the child did have hepB and it was in that dried blood on his face, would it have to get from there to your child's bloodstream?  Or just onto a mucous membrane?  Or what?  

 

Does anyone know how common hepB in kids is?  How long have we been giving the vax?  How prevalent was it among children before we vaxed for it?

post #11 of 11
9/29/12 at 4:38am

did you want world stats on hepB or USA stats?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rubidoux View Post

I think it's a stretch, but my Qs will show how little I know about this stuff...  I'm wondering, if the child did have hepB and it was in that dried blood on his face, would it have to get from there to your child's bloodstream?  Or just onto a mucous membrane?  Or what?  

 

Does anyone know how common hepB in kids is?  How long have we been giving the vax?  How prevalent was it among children before we vaxed for it?

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