`All MBBS students should take Hepatitis B vaccine'

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





All students selected to first-year MBBS BDS courses in Tamil Nadu should have taken the hepatitis B vaccination, the directorate of medical education has deemed.

 

Hepatitis B, given by doctors or nurses through intramuscular route, is a vaccine recombinant used to prevent infection by the hepatitis B virus. It helps the body produce its own protection (antibodies) against the disease.“It is extremely important for medicos to be vaccinated against hepatitis. If they are selected and do not have vaccination certificate, we plan to give them vaccines before they are enrolled. Immunisation will protect them against the disease,“ said director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe.

It is a serious liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). For some people, the infection becomes chronic, meaning it lasts more than six months. Having chronic hepatitis B increases your risk of developing liver failure, liver cancer or cirrhosis -a condition that causes permanent scarring of the liver.