title: Long-term follow-up of hepatitis B vaccination in susceptible hospital personnel.
abstract: Two hundred and sixty-seven susceptible hospital personnel who had been randomly divided into three groups to receive different doses (5 micrograms, 2 micrograms or 1 microgram) of a plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine on a four-dose schedule were investigated annually for 4 years. Of them, 251 were vaccine responders. The percentages of persistence of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) in these 3 groups were 95.5% (84/88), 92.3% (72/78) and 95.3% (81/85), respectively (P greater than 0.05). During the follow-up period, 12 of 21 (57.1%) responders with low anti-HBs titres (10-100 miu/mL) and 3 of 48 (6.3%) responders with medium anti-HBs titres (101-1000 miu/mL) were found to be anti-HBs seronegative, while none of the 182 candidates with high anti-HBs levels (greater than 1000 miu/mL) lost their anti-HBs. The 4 year cumulative rate of natural booster in the responders was 11.6% (29/251). None of the candidates became HBsAg positive during the follow-up period. This study revealed that low dose hepatitis B vaccine can provide satisfactory immunogenic response and long-term efficacy in Chinese adults and that the persistence of immunogenicity is not related to the vaccine dose but to the candidate's own initial anti-HBs response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D011897:Random Allocation; D013624:Taiwan; D014611:Vaccination; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines