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Frequently Asked Questions about Hepatitis A

Answer to Question Four

Pre-exposure immunization against hepatitis A is recommended for ALL susceptible personns who travel outside the U.S. (except for travel to Western Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Japan). This can be provided either by short-term immunization with immune globulin (IG) or longterm immunization with hepatitis A vaccine. Hepatitis A vaccination is definitely indicated for persons who:

1. Will travel or work in the indicated countries for longer than 3 months.
2. Will travel internationally on more than one occasion.

Hepatitis A vaccination should be considered for persons who will travel on only one occasion since there is a high likelihood they will travel again and vaccination provides long-term protection against infection. It should also be remembered that many children are travelers and they should be protected. This is especially true for children born in the U.S. traveling to the home country of their immigrant parents. Children who travel may play with other children who are infected with HAV. These children may become infected, and then infect other children and adults upon return to the U.S. If the child-traveler is younger than 2 years of age.

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