Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program
This program provides resources and technical support to local health departments for perinatal hepatitis B prevention and to provide surveillance for perinatal hepatitis B cases. Our goal is to prevent the perinatal transmission of hepatitis B by promoting the following:
- Prenatal testing of all pregnant women for hepatitis B infection and reporting cases to local health departments
- Appropriate immunoprophylaxis of infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive women
- Post-vaccination serologic testing of exposed infants
- Screening and vaccination of close contacts
These measures are backed by California State Law which requires prenatal screening for hepatitis B surface antigen and reporting of hepatitis B infection by health care providers and laboratories to local health departments.
State funding of local programs supports these activities:
- Case management of HBsAg positive pregnant women and their infants
- Education of medical providers, birth hospitals, and hepatitis B infected pregnant women and their close contacts
- Coordination with birth hospitals to promote implementation of national perinatal hepatitis B prevention recommendations