CDC recognizes local perinatal hepatitis program

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recognized the Rhode Island Perinatal Hepatitis Prevention Program for having the highest immunization rate in the country for infants born to women with hepatitis B, 95 percent for three doses in the first eight months of life.
The program is a collaboration between Women & Infants Hospital, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, the VNA of Care New England and the R.I. Department of Health. It includes screening, referral and case-management services for pregnant women and new mothers infected with chronic hepatitis B or C virus.
The goal is to prevent perinatal hepatitis infection in infants. Treatment is also offered for women who already have delivered.
“We are working closely with the obstetricians and gynecologists to identify and refer women to this program for help,” said Dr. Silvia Degli-Esposti, medical director of the Center for Women’s Gastrointestinal Services at Women & Infants and an associate professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
“The obstetrician is often the first to recognize the viral infection in the mother because of the intensive blood work done when a woman is pregnant,” she added. “Healthy women don’t always go to the doctor, but they do go to the obstetrician when they get pregnant. In our office, we follow and treat mothers infected with hepatitis throughout and following pregnancy.”
For more information about the Rhode Island Perinatal Hepatitis Prevention Program, go to www.health.ri.gov/immunization/perinatal-hepatitis.php.