marlena58

My attorney says I don't need Hepatitis B shoot for Jacksonville,

but I read here all the time you need it ,how will I know for sure?

Please help!

Thank you very much

Donna Maindraul

In article <[email protected]>, marlena58
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > My attorney says I don't need Hepatitis B shoot for Jacksonville,
    >
    > but I read here all the time you need it ,how will I know for sure?

The shot is required for children to go to school unless you get an exepmtion for
philosophical or religious reasons, but isn't really required of adults. Most
Americans over the age of about 12 have never had the vaccine.

The list the INS uses is the CDC's list for children, and it includes a number of
vaccines that are not appropriate for adults (such as Haemophilus influenza b,
chicken pox, etc.) Hepatitis B is odd because really only adults are at risk (it's
mostly transmitted by sex and needles), but it's listed as a childhood immunization.

Any doctor in the US will offer you the ones that are appropriate for you, and
just sign off on the ones that aren't. I get the idea from reading this board
that some overseas doctors, particularly in developing countries, that do K-1
exams are more likely to just give you all of the shots to make sure your
application isn't rejected.

An INS officer is very unlikely to look at your list of vaccinations (or your chest
X-ray, for that matter, they aren't trained radiologists). They're just looking for
the doctor's signature at the bottom. So if the doctor says at the time of your exam
that he's signing off on your vaccinations, you are done, and don't worry.

-Donna

Toby Everett

Donna Maindrault <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > Haemophilus influenza b, chicken pox, etc.) Hepatitis B is odd because really only
    > adults are at risk (it's mostly transmitted by sex and needles), but it's listed as
    > a childhood immunization.

"Chronic HBV infection with persistence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) occurs
in as many of 90% of infants infected by perinatal transmission, in an average of 30%
of children 1 to 5 years of age infected after birth, and in 2% to 6% of older
children, adolescents, and adults with HBV infection. Although fewer than 10% of new
HBV infections occur in children, approximately one third of the 1.25 million
Americans with chronic HBV infection are estimated to acquire their infection as
infants or young children based on the higher risk of chronic infection during
childhood." (page 289 of the CDC guidelines on infectious disease - I don't remember
the exact title, all I have are photocopies).

"The precise mechanisms of transmission from child to child are unknown; however,
frequent interpersonal contact of nonintact skin or mucous membranes with
blood-containing secretions or, perhaps, saliva are the more likely means of
transmission." (Ibid, 290)

"All children, including those in child care, should receive hepatitis B vaccine as
part of their routine immunization schedule. Immunication not only will reduce the
potential for transmission after bites, but also will allay anxiety about trasmission
from attendees who may be HBsAg-positive." (Ibid, 301)

In a nutshell, the odds of being infected with HBV as a child are lower than for
adults, but of those who do get infected with HBV, the odds of ending up with chronic
HBV (as opposed to developing immunity) are 5 to 15 times higher for children, and so
it is strongly recommended that children be vaccinated against HBV. Also, as an
adult, your risk factors for acquiring HBV are much more contingent on concious
choices you make - i.e. whether or not to share needles if you choose to do needle
drugs, how many sexual partners you choose to have, etc. As a child, your risk
factors are more likely to be environmental in nature (i.e. being in child care with
a HBsAg carrier for an extended period of time and experiencing transmission through
the aforementioned routes).

Finally effective immunization of the entire populace would help to stabilize and
reduce the incidence rates of the disease. Many adults are not very conscientious
about getting vaccinations (especially those adults at higher risk for transmission
- i.e. IV drug users), and since the immune memory for the HBV vaccination appears
to be quite long (I heard that they recently revised it to 30 years, although
that's a vague recollection), childhood immunization is likely to confer adult
immunity as well.

--Toby Everett

marlena58

Thank you very much for your response,I sendet my medical
exame to Jacksonville 2 months ago,and I am picking up my
EAD Aug.07,so I schould be OK then.

Thank you again