WHAT ENGERIX B IS AND WHAT IT IS USED FOR?

Engerix B is a vaccine used to prevent hepatitis B infection. It can also help to prevent hepatitis D infection.  

This vaccine can be given to both adults and adolescents 16 years of age and over.  In exceptional circumstances it can also be given to children and adolescents 11 to 15 years of age (see How Engerix B is given).  

Hepatitis B is an infectious illness of the liver caused by a virus. Some people have the hepatitis B virus in their body but cannot get rid of it. They can still infect other people and are known as carriers. The disease is spread by the virus entering the body following contact with body fluids, most often blood, from an infected person.

If the mother is a carrier of the virus she can pass the virus to her baby at birth. It is also possible to catch the virus from a carrier through, for example, unprotected sex, shared injection needles or treatment with medical equipment which has not been properly sterilised.

The main signs of the illness include headache, fever, sickness and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes) but in about three out of 10 patients there are no signs of illness. In those infected with hepatitis B one out of 10 adults and up to nine out of 10 babies will become carriers of the virus and are likely to go on to develop serious liver damage and in some cases cancer of the liver.