Counseling the Patient with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

You answered:

C Hepatitis B vaccines do not offer protection to people who are already infected with hepatitis B virus.

This answer is correct, but there is a better answer. Hepatitis B vaccination has no beneficial effect on a person who is already chronically infected with hepatitis B virus. Vaccination protects only those individuals who have never been infected with the virus.

A Most individuals who have chronic hepatitis B experience no symptoms.
B In many cases, people born outside the U.S get the infection from their mothers during childbirth or from infected household contacts as children. A person can also become infected with the hepatitis B virus when exposed to contaminated blood, having unprotected sex with an infected person, or through injection drug use.
D The woman’s fiancé should undergo testing for hepatitis B status. He should receive the hepatitis B vaccination if he does not have immunity to hepatitis B.
E All of the answers listed are correct.

 

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