Scheduling of revaccination against hepatitis B virus

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) Vol. 337; no. 8751; p. 1180
• Main Authors: Coursaget, P, Yvonnet, B, Gilks, W R, Wang, C C, Day, N E, Chiron, J P, Diop-Mar, I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 18-05-1991
• Subjects: Hepatitis B - prevention & control; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens - analysis; Hepatitis B Vaccines; Humans; Immunization Schedule; Immunization, Secondary; Infant; Regression Analysis; Vaccines, Synthetic - administration & dosage; Viral Hepatitis Vaccines - administration & dosage
• ISSN: 0140-6736
• DOI: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)92857-X

Studies have shown that to maintain protection against infection after a primary course of hepatitis B immunisation, revaccination can be scheduled on the basis of an anti-hepatitis B virus surface antigen (anti-HBs) titre obtained 1 month after the booster dose. However, schemes which require post-booster testing may present practical difficulties. We applied a random-effects regression model to data from 118 Senegalese infants given three injections of hepatitis B vaccine about 6 weeks apart and a booster injection at 13 months, and show that revaccination can be scheduled on the basis of an anti-HBs titre recorded at the time of the booster dose. We also show that titre-at-booster is no less accurate in predicting future titre than 1-month post-booster titre. In several other studies the post-booster decline in anti-HBs conforms to the same mathematical description, indicating the generality of our findings.