Scheduling of revaccination against hepatitis B virus.
Studies have shown that to maintain protection against infection after a primary course of hepatitis B immunisation, revaccination can be scheduled on the basis of an anti-hepatitis B virus surface antigen (anti-HBs) titre obtained 1 month after the booster dose. However, schemes which require post-booster testing may present practical difficulties. We applied a random-effects regression model to data from 118 Senegalese infants given three injections of hepatitis B vaccine about 6 weeks apart and a booster injection at 13 months, and show that revaccination can be scheduled on the basis of an anti-HBs titre recorded at the time of the booster dose. We also show that titre-at-booster is no less accurate in predicting future titre than 1-month post-booster titre. In several other studies the post-booster decline in anti-HBs conforms to the same mathematical description, indicating the generality of our findings.
Institut de Virologie de Tours, Faculte de Pharmacie, France.
P
P
Coursaget
B
B
Yvonnet
W R
WR
Gilks
C C
CC
Wang
N E
NE
Day
J P
JP
Chiron
I
I
Diop-Mar
D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D007117:Immunization, Secondary; D007223:Infant; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines