I'm a hepatitis B carrier. What should I do to prevent my friends and family from being infected? What's the prognosis for individuals diagnosed with hepatitis B?

--Hana

Hepatitis B, a viral infection, is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids. Ways of infecting another person include sharing contaminated needles (such as ones used for IV drug abuse, tattoos, and ear piercing), needle-stick injuries for health care workers, or sexual contact. A pregnant woman with hepatitis B can infect her unborn child. Blood transfusion was once the most common source of infection, but screening tests for contaminated blood have dramatically reduced this risk.

Your family members and sexual contacts should be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine. Anyone exposed to your blood or a new sexual contact should receive hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG). You should use a condom, unless you are trying to become pregnant or unless you are with a long-term partner who has been vaccinated. You can never donate blood. The Centers for Disease Control recommend vaccinating all newborns with the hepatitis B vaccine, and it's also a good idea for all sexually active young people to be vaccinated as well.

If you don't have symptoms, and if your liver function tests are normal, then there is a small chance of you developing chronic liver disease at this point, the biggest threat to hepatitis B patients. You should have regular check-ups with an internist or family doctor and a simple blood test to check liver function every year or so.