A Recap on hep A, B and C- The conclusion of the confusion?

[Guest guest]

Hi Marcie,

No not quite right- I'll have to do a tad more correcting:

It can only be acquired from an accidental prick with a needle that was used on a patient who is INFECTED with HCV. You can get the other Hep varieties that way, too. That is how I acquired it. I did not contract HIV, as that particular patient was Aids-free...but I did contract the HepC. And not every person working in healthcare will acquire a disease, even if they are accidentally punctured, as I was. But it is a risk to be aware of- and that is the reason you see all the rubber gloves and universal precautions used in the doc's offices these days. I even have to carry a card that identifies me as a HepC patient and cautions emergency healthcare workers to use precautions if I am bleeding. And I may never again donate blood or an organ. (that is the part that truly breaks my heart as I have always wanted to be an organ donor!)

I do agree with you that immunizing infants is a very touchy subject. My DH and I chose to immunize our two children because there many countries on this big globe that require a Certificate of Vaccination just to gain a visa to enter that country. My DH and I are both avid travelers and adventurers (especially when I am feeling up to snuff). We did not want to close the doors of 50-75% of the world to them simply because they did not get their shots. Now, did renewing some of my vaccines -I had the MMR, DTap and a Typhoid vaccine re-done in 1993- act as one catalyst in a serious of triggers for my autoimmune disease? Hmmm....That goes right up there with the "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop" conundrum...The world may never know...

But there is much research milling about these days pointing to the fact that newborn infants do the remainder of immune development in the first 6 weeks post-birth. They are gobbling down antibodies from mommy if she is smart enough, kind enough, selfless enough and patient enough to breastfeed. I understand that not every Mom can do that. But even 2 wks of breastfeeding is better than nothing at all. I personally nursed both my kids for 14 & 15 months, my son weaned himself later- boys are like that! They are also both very healthy kids, in general.

And every germ, virus or bacterium, that newborns are exposed to in the first few weeks, whether through the antibodies in Mom's breast milk or the contact with an infected person, prepares their tiny immune systems for the onslaught of germs that are all over the place. That is how our immune systems work. We are exposed, we build a tolerance, our tiny T cells do the job of killing off the bad stuff (or at least making the severity of the illness less, like with a flu or common cold) and each baby hopefully grows in to reasonably healthy adult! Somewhere along the way some of these infants' health may go awry. Maybe its genetic (in my case that was a big factor for the AI thyroid disease), maybe it is happenstance (as in how I contracted the HCV) or maybe there is never going to be a definitive answer. We really do need more research, don't we?

So whether it is good or bad to immunize just a few hours after birth is highly debatable. Being born is probably traumatic enough to our tiny little children! I don't know what state you reside in but neither of my children (each born in a different state or territory within the last 8 years) received a vaccine of any kind at birth. At 12 hrs or so they were each given the "heel stick" and donated a blood specimen to screen for Phenylketonuria, Tay-Sachs (we are both of Eastern European Jewish decent) and some other genetic diseases. But the first Hep B shot did not come until later. For my daughter, she was 10 days old. My son was about a week old.

So to recap:

You can't really catch anything from an accidental needle stick- the risk is extremely low- unless you are in a high-risk situation, as I was, around HIV patients or the like. Hope I cleared up that bit of confusion.

Have a great day,

Lara

From: Marciemjm@...

lara1967@...

Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 5:57 AM

Subject: Re: hep A, B and C- a bit of confusion? a delayed reply

I stand corrected! So, your saying that it is Hep C that is acquired from an accidental prick from a needle? (Or for that matter, just about anything could be acquired this way?) Which would be easy to understand when working in the medical field. I still say that a newborn doesn't need the vaccine when they are just 12 hours old! That's just too much for a little one's system. Marcie