STD: HOW IS HEPATITIS B TRANSMITTED?
Hepatitis B is transmitted by infected body fluids, including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, fluid from wounds, and saliva. It is possible that any body fluid from an infected person may carry enough virus to infect another person. Hepatitis B most commonly is transmitted through blood exposure, via sexual contact, and from mother to child. Household contacts of people infected with hepatitis B seem to be at a higher risk of acquiring the infection, even if they are not sexually active with the infected person. In these cases infection probably occurs through unnoticed blood or saliva transmission.
Blood Exposure. The risk behaviors in this category include sharing equipment for injection drug use, tattooing, or body piercing; receiving a needle-stick injury (as a health care worker might); and receiving a transfusion with infected blood or blood products. Since the blood supply has been screened for hepatitis B since 1975, the risk of becoming infected from a transfusion is very low.
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