Personal Injury Law

Hep A Shots Advised If You Are In "Close Contact" With Newly Adopted

By Marler Clark LLP

 It use to be that if you were going to pick up children for adoption in a foreign country you were advised to get a Hepatitis A shot before departure.   In a new advisory, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says if you are going to come into "close contact" with newly adopted children from a foreign country, you should get a Hepatitis A vaccine even if you never leave the good old USA.

Reuters reports:

"Recently, there have been cases of family members who have gotten sick after kids have been adopted," said Dr. Cindy Weinbaum, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. She said there had been about 20 cases, including a 51-year-old adoptive grandmother who became gravely ill.

Weinbaum said the recommendations cover adoptions from countries with a high or intermediate infection risk.

"That includes most of the world. All that (it) excludes is North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan," she said.

For more on the CDC advisory, go here.

Full post as published by Hepatitis Blog on March 01, 2009 (boomark / email).