Hepatitis A Vaccine Best Bet to Treat Virus

Immune globulin also offers only six months of protection, while the vaccine -- especially if one gets a second dose -- will protect for life, Victor said. "To ensure long-term protection, you need that second shot," he said.

Because of these factors, the CDC is recommending the hepatitis A vaccine to fight infection in those aged 12 months to 40 years who have been exposed to the virus. The CDC also recommends that people traveling to areas where hepatitis A is endemic get one dose of the vaccine. This single shot should protect most healthy people, the agency said.

Hepatitis A infects the liver and is spread through close personal contact, Victor said, including household contacts especially with young children, sexual contact, and shared needles among drug users. It can also be transmitted by food handlers who don't practice good hygiene. "This is a fecal-oral transmitted virus," he said.

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Symptoms -- typically more prevalent in adults than children -- include jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea and fever. There's no long-term infection -- once you've had hepatitis A, you can't get it again. About 15 percent of people infected with the virus will have prolonged or relapsing symptoms over a six-to-nine month period, according to the CDC.

Young children have been vaccinated against hepatitis A since 1995, Victor said. As a result, incidence of the disease has dropped dramatically. "There are less than 5,000 cases a year now in the United States, where we used to have tens of thousands," he said.

Dr. Carol J. Baker, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine, wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal. She thinks the vaccination recommendation is worthwhile, because the vaccine is a better choice than immune globulin.

"This is another success for hepatitis A vaccine," Baker said. "Now we know that the vaccine is equally protective after exposure to the virus as immune globulin."

Baker thinks this is important, because there's only one manufacturer of immune globulin in the United States. "If anything happens, then there is no way to treat people exposed to the virus," she said.

Also, the cost of the vaccine is similar to immune globulin, Baker said, adding that with two doses of vaccine, you are protected for life.

More information

For more on hepatitis A, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.