Hepatitis B risk factors
Individuals are at increased risk of HBV infection if they:
- have sex with someone infected with HBV
- have sex with more than one partner
- shoot drugs
- are a man and have sex with a man
- live in the same house with someone who has chronic (long-term) HBV infection
- have a job that involves contact with human blood
- are a client in a home for the developmentally disabled
- have hemophilia
- travel to areas where hepatitis B is common (country listing)
One out of 20 people in the United States will get infected with HBV some time during their lives.
Their risk is higher if their parents were born in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Amazon Basin in South America, the Pacific Islands, or the Middle East.