Vaccination among household contacts of chronic hepatitis B carriers by general practitioners

Immunising household contacts of chronic hepatitis B carriers in Australia has the potential to substantially reduce the spread of this disease. However, little is known about this activity in Australia.

We identified chronic carriers from the northern Sydney area who had positive hepatitis B virus (HBV) status detected twice greater than six months apart. We contacted their general practitioners, and, with their permission, their patients to conduct structured telephone interviews.

There were 52 HBV chronic carriers. From their 113 household contacts, 22 had current or past HBV infection, 67 had been vaccinated, 17 were unvaccinated, and seven had unknown HBV status. Contacts of younger carriers were more likely to be vaccinated (p < 0.01).

Most household contacts of chronic hepatitis B carriers have either been exposed to, or vaccinated against, HBV. There is still room for improvement by general practice in the identification of the contacts of cases of acute HBV infections.