Clinical and laboratory staff of the Army and RAF medical services at risk of acquiring infection with hepatitis B were immunised against the virus with a recombinant vaccine. Vaccine was administered in Service hospitals and medical centres located throughout the world. After a primary course of vaccine, 73% of personnel developed anti-HBs titres > or = 100 IU/L to hepatitis B surface antigen ...

The duration of protection after hepatitis B vaccination in children is unknown. We determined the serum level of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBsAg) in 273 randomly selected 7-9-year-old schoolchildren from Zanjan City, Islamic Republic of Iran, who had been fully vaccinated against hepatitis B starting at birth. Titres < or = 10 mlU/mL were considered unprotective. Just over ...

the immune response to hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag) is influenced by several factors, of which hla antigens and balanced secretion of th1/th2 cytokines play important roles. the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of hla antigens on cytokine secretion by hbsag-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) from healthy neonates vaccinated with recombinant hbsag. pbmcs w...

conclusions dental academics were unsure about the means of infection and prevention against hbv. many of them had not completed the immunization scheme and did not have the test of seroconversion. the serological analysis revealed unprotection, even after students completed the vaccination schedule. results of the 179 students surveyed, 58.1% knew about the degree of virulence of the hepatitis...

A cross-sectional study of 540 married Akha and Lisaw women of reproductive age was conducted in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, between June 1st and August 31st, 1999, in order to determine the seroprevalence of HBsAg and identify the risk factors for chronic HBsAg carriage. HBsAg was detected by the reverse passive hemagglutination technique (RPHA). Data were obtained by questionnaires and ser...

Developments in the United Kingdom national external quality assessment scheme for virology are described. There are about 198 participants (170 in the UK) who are enrolled for examination of any or all of five categories of specimen (distribution types). These are detection of rubella antibody (128 UK participants), detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (130 UK participants), general virus ...

During a two year period (2011 2012), a total of 1,596 consecutive serum samples from pregnant women were tested for the presence of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV antibodies. HBsAg was detected in 11/1596 (0.7%; 95% CI = 0.34 1.23) tested women. All of them were HBeAg negative/anti-HBe positive. According to age, HBsAg prevalence was highest in the age group of less than 26 years (1.9%). In the ...

The purpose of the present study was to measure the amount of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) in different populations by the immunoelectroosmophoresis method. High titers of anti-HBc, up to 1/4,096, were found in the acute stage of hepatitis B virus infections and in the chronic carrier state of hepatitis B surface antigen. In cases of acute hepatitis the anti-HBc titers gradua...

Serum samples from 356 HBsAg positive asymptomatic carriers, which were titrated by reverse passive hemagglutination, were analysed for the presence of HBV-DNA, HBsAg and IgM anti-HBc. The samples were divided in three classes, according to the titers of HBsAg and IgM anti-HBc and the distribution of HBV-DNA and HBsAg among these classes was studied. In the high titer class of HBsAg, 65% of sam...

conclusions although the frequency of hbsag seropositivity in the present study was close to that observed in the overall iranian population, the seroprevalence of anti-hbc was higher, possibly due to the exposure of the elderly to more risk factors. the risk factors were similar. these included a history of blood transfusions, cupping, hospital admission, endoscopy, or familial hbv/hcv infecti...