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Efficacy of Immunization with a Combination of Serum and Recombinant Hepatitis B Vaccines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Karlyn K. Pearl ,
Ana A. Ortiz  and
William Pearl
Karlyn K. Pearl*
Affiliation:
William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas
Ana A. Ortiz
Affiliation:
William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas
William Pearl
Affiliation:
William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas
*
Chief of Epidemiology and Disease Control, Preventive Medicine Service, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, TX 79920
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Abstract

Objective:

To evaluate the efficacy of giving a third dose of recombinant hepatitis B vaccine to healthcare workers who already had received two doses of serum-derived vaccine, which is no longer available in the United States.

Design:

Volunteers who already had received two standard doses of serum-derived vaccine were given a third dose of either serum or recombinant vaccine in a double-blind fashion. Antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen were measured at the time of the third immunization, three months later, and one year after the third immunization.

Setting:

U.S. Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas.

Patients:

One hundred healthy healthcare workers.

Results:

Three months after receiving the third immunization, the serum vaccine group had significantly higher titers than the recombinant vaccine group (P= 0.018). One year after receiving the third immunization, those who received the combined regimen had a mean hepatitis B surface antibody titer less than half that of those who received three doses of serum-derived vaccine. However, both regimens resulted in titers that are considered to confer immunity.

Conclusions:

A regimen that combines serum and recombinant hepatitis B vaccines may not produce as high an antibody level as three doses of the same vaccine. Those who began immunization with serum vaccine and concluded with recombinant vaccine should be monitored for an accelerated drop in serum antibodies.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 14 , Issue 8 , August 1993 , pp. 476 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1993

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