Hepatitis B vaccination: knowledge among clinical dental staff and students in Dundee.
It is now generally acknowledged that all health care workers should be vaccinated against hepatitis B. To this end, a questionnaire was sent to 132 clinical dental students and 70 staff in August 1993 at a British dental hospital, to assess their vaccination status. Approximately 10% of subjects had not completed their course of immunisation. Furthermore a significant number of subjects had failed to follow up their vaccination by an antibody titre test. Our results suggest that approximately 1 in 7 cases failed to seroconvert, emphasising that mere vaccination may not offer sufficient protection against hepatitis B. Thus adequate cross-infection control measures must be maintained in the interest of all patients.
Sivarajasingam
V
V
Department of Dental Surgery and Periodontology, Dundee Dental Hospital.
Ogden
G R
GR
D003797:Dental Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D007117:Immunization, Secondary / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D012606:Scotland; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines