Related Experiment Videos
-Vaccination against hepatitis A-
1Service de pédiatrie, Hôpital Ambroise-Paré, Boulogne, France.
Insights
Hepatitis A vaccination for children is effective but may not be necessary for all due to changing disease epidemiology. Decisions should consider individual risk factors and travel destinations.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Vaccinology
- Public Health
Context:
- Hepatitis A epidemiology in France has shifted from children to adolescents and young adults.
- Symptomatic hepatitis A cases in children are now rare, with few fulminating instances.
- The pediatric hepatitis A vaccine requires a specific immunization schedule for optimal antibody response.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the necessity of routine pediatric hepatitis A immunization.
- To assess the impact of evolving hepatitis A epidemiology on vaccination strategies.
- To provide guidance on hepatitis A vaccination for children based on risk and travel.
Summary:
- A pediatric hepatitis A vaccine offers protection through a multi-dose schedule, eliciting elevated antibody levels.
- Intramuscular administration in the deltoid muscle is typical, with good tolerability.
- The vaccine's utility is questioned for routine childhood immunization due to decreased incidence, except for high-risk groups.
Impact:
- Revising current pediatric vaccination guidelines for hepatitis A.
- Informing public health policy regarding hepatitis A prevention in children.
- Guiding individualized vaccination decisions for pediatric populations, especially travelers.
Abstract:
A pediatric form of hepatitis A vaccine is available with an immunization schedule of three injections within one year followed by booster injections every 10 years. This schedule gives a marked elevation of protecting antibodies and has a good protective effect against the symptomatic forms of hepatitis A. The vaccine is administered intramuscularly in the deltoid and is usually well tolerated. Major changes have occurred in the epidemiology of hepatitis A in France in the last decades. While many children were affected 20 years ago, hepatitis A is nowadays essentially observed in adolescents and young adults, although there remain symptomatic cases, with very few fulminating cases, among children. Considering the low risk of symptomatic cases, the usefulness of a systematic immunization against hepatitis A in children is questionable, with the exception of polytransfused children and handicapped children living in community. For the travelling children, hepatitis A immunization must be decided according to the travel conditions and the epidemiology of hepatitis A in the visited country.