Full Length Research Paper
Abstract
Vaccination is recommended for all healthcare workers (HCWs) at risk of exposure to blood and body fluids to prevent occupational acquisition of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, about 5% of HCWs after 6 doses of intramuscular injections of vaccines fail to develop protective antibody levels (anti HBs). These groups are named non-responder. To compare the humoral immune responses of intramuscular (IM) and intradermal (ID) vaccination in non-responder HCWs, we designed an open, prospective trial. In this trial, we chose HCWs who did not respond to several booster doses of IM hepatitis B vaccine. Three doses of IM or ID recombinant vaccine were injected with two weeks interval in each group. Hepatitis B antibody responses (anti HBs) were assessed one month after last injection. Seroconvertions were observed in 95.5% of ID group and 85% of IM group of these non-responder subjects after vaccinations. ID recombinant hepatitis B vaccination induced protective antibody responses in more than 95.5% of HCWs non-responsive to repeated IM hepatitis B vaccination and can be considered for all non-responder HCWs.
Key words: Vaccination, healthcare workers, nonresponder, hepatitis B virus.
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