Pre-travel consultation and hepatitis B: A double opportunity for preventing infection in at-risk patients and life-threatening complications in HBV carriers

摘要

In this issue of the Journal of Travel Medicine, Johnson and colleagues review the risk of acquisition of hepatitis B in international travelers.1 They found that the monthly incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) acquisition in long-term travelers to endemic countries ranges from 25 to 420 per 100,000. In the same issue, a study of short-term travelers from Australia to Asia analyzing paired pre-travel and post-travel sera showed a much lower incidence of 2.19 new hepatitis B infections per 10,000 travel days.2 This is in agreement with a recent study of Danish travelers where the monthly incidence of HBV was estimated to be 10.2 per 100,000.3 Multiple factors, including HBV prevalence in the destination country, visiting friends and relatives (VFR) status, risk activities, or medical" care during travel, all impact risk of HBV acquisition.1 These at-risk travelers should be offered hepatitis B vaccination.