title: Unexplained fever in neonates may be associated with hepatitis B vaccine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether hepatitis B vaccination has increased the number of cases of unexplained neonatal fever.
  
  
  METHODS
  The files of all infants born from 1 January 1991 to 31 December 1992, in whom a diagnosis of "injected antibiotic" or "disease of temperature regulation" was recorded, were reviewed. Those who had unexplained fever of 38 degrees C or higher during the first three days of life were divided into two groups: infants who did not receive the hepatitis B vaccine (1991) and infants who did (1992).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 1992 the incidence of unexplained fever in hepatitis B vaccinated neonates was significantly higher than in the 1991 group of pre-vaccination neonates (35 out of 5819 (0.6%) vs 14 out of 5010 neonates (0.28%) respectively, p=0.013).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The increase in the number of cases of unexplained neonatal fever seems to be associated with the introduction of routine hepatitis B vaccination on the first day of life. The possibility that an excess number of neonates will undergo unnecessary procedures and treatment to diagnose unexplained fever justifies planning a controlled study to determine whether these preliminary findings point to a significant problem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, 14 Kaplan St, Petah Tikva 49202, Israel.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Linder
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sirota
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reichman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lubin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuint
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barzilai
mesh_terms: D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000209:etiology*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn
chemical_list: D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines