Assessment of State Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Laws

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Culp, Lindsay A. ; Caucci, Lisa ; Fenlon, Nancy E. ; Lindley, Megan C. ; Nelson, Noele P. ; Murphy, Trudy V.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Identifying pregnant women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection for post-exposure prophylaxis of their infants is critical to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HBV infection. HBV infection in infancy results in premature death from chronic liver disease or cancer in 25% of affected infants. Universal screening of pregnant women for HBV infection is the standard of care, and in many states is supported by laws for screening and reporting these infections to public health. No recent assessment of state screening and reporting laws for HBV infection has been published.
  
  Methods
  
  In 2014, the authors analyzed laws current through December 31, 2013 from U.S. jurisdictions (50 states and the District of Columbia) related to HBV infection and hepatitis B surface antigen screening and reporting requirements generally and for pregnant women specifically.
  
  Results
  
  All states require reporting of cases of HBV infection. Twenty-six states require pregnant women to be screened. Thirty-three states require public health reporting of HBV infections in pregnant women, but only 12 states require reporting pregnancy status of women with HBV infection.
  
  Conclusions
  
  This assessment revealed significant variability in laws related to screening and reporting of HBV infection among pregnant women in the U.S. Implementing comprehensive HBV infection screening and reporting laws for pregnant women may facilitate identifying HBV-infected pregnant women and preventing HBV infection in their infants.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Female Hepatitis B Humans Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical Legislation As Topic Pregnancy State Government
• Source:
  Am J Prev Med. 51(6):e179-e185
• Pubmed ID:
  27866601
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5873954
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  51
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:1e82227f69a807758b486652621afdbc593d0370cef5ec32c4ac41163db36e06
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/52948/cdc_52948_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 319.57 KB ]