(Adds interview, details on anthrax)

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. citizens who expect to have close contact with an adopted child from countries with high rates of hepatitis A should be immunized if they have not been already, U.S. immunization advisers said on Wednesday.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said unvaccinated people who will have close contact with such a child should get the vaccine within 60 days of the adoptee's arrival in the United States.

Prior recommendations covered only parents traveling to countries with high or intermediate rates of infection.

"Recently, there have been cases of family members who have gotten sick after kids have been adopted," said Dr. Cindy Weinbaum, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. She said there had been about 20 cases, including a 51-year-old adoptive grandmother who died.

Weinbaum said the recommendations cover adoptions from countries with a high or intermediate infection risk.

"That includes most of the world. All that (it) excludes is North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan," she said.

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious viral infection of the liver caused by putting something into the mouth that was contaminated with stool. Symptoms can include fever, jaundice, nausea and vomiting.

The committee said adoptive parents and caregivers should get the first dose of the vaccine as soon as an adoption is planned. Ideally, the first of two doses should be administered at least two weeks before the child's arrival.

The CDC recommends vaccination for all children starting at age 1, for travelers to certain countries and others at risk.

Separately, the panel voted on Wednesday to reduce the number of anthrax shots needed to protect members of the U.S. military and others from a biological threat to five from six shots.

The change follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval in December of an anthrax vaccine made by Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions <EBS.N>.

The panel now recommends that shots be given directly into the muscle rather than into a fatty layer of tissue just under the skin. BioThrax is the only FDA-licensed vaccine for the prevention of anthrax infection.

The committee voted to accept recommendations for flu strains to be included in the vaccine for the 2009-2010 flu season.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen, editing by Patricia Zengerle)

AlertNet news is provided by