IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i9p1515-d226966.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Persistence of Immunity for Hepatitis B Virus among Heathcare Workers and Italian Medical Students 20 Years after Vaccination

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Coppeta

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Andrea Pompei

    (Department of Occupational Diseases, Toulouse University Hospital, Bâtiment Turiaf, Place du Dr Baylac, 31059, Toulouse Cedex 9, France)

  • Ottavia Balbi

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Ludovico M. De Zordo

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Federica Mormone

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Sara Policardo

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Piergiorgio Lieto

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Antonio Pietroiusti

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

  • Andrea Magrini

    (Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00188 Roma, Italy)

Abstract

Background : Immunization of healthcare workers (HCWs) and medical students for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a crucial part of the hospital infection control programs. The aim of our study was to evaluate the persistence of anti-HBV specific antibodies in HCWs vaccinated during infancy or adolescence. Methods : Medical records of 734 consecutive subjects born after 1980 (481 females, 65.5% and 253 males, 34.5%) who underwent serological testing for anti-hepatitis B surface antibodies (anti-HBs) were evaluated. Results : A non-protective titer (<10 mUI) was found in 88/734 (12.0%) subjects; 84 (47.8%) of them received a booster dose of anti-hepatitis B vaccine and the anti-HBs titer of 58 subjects was measured 1 month after administration. A protective titer (anti-HBs >10 mIU/mL) was observed in almost 90% of subjects receiving the booster dose. Conclusions : A substantial percentage of HCWs had a non-protective anti-HBs titer at the time of the first employment, especially those vaccinated at birth age. However, the response to the booster dose showed that in these subjects, an anti-HBs titer <10 mIU/mL was due to the physiological decline of antibodies over the years. Therefore, primary immunization in childhood is highly effective and provides lasting immunity against HBV infection.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Coppeta & Andrea Pompei & Ottavia Balbi & Ludovico M. De Zordo & Federica Mormone & Sara Policardo & Piergiorgio Lieto & Antonio Pietroiusti & Andrea Magrini, 2019. "Persistence of Immunity for Hepatitis B Virus among Heathcare Workers and Italian Medical Students 20 Years after Vaccination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-9, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1515-:d:226966
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1515/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1515/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luca Coppeta & Cristiana Ferrari & Marco Trabucco Aurilio & Gianluigi Ferrazza & Andrea Magrini & Stefano Rizza, 2022. "Night Shift Work Is Associated with Reduced Rate of Humoral Response Following Vaccination for HBV," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-7, July.
    2. Andrea Trevisan & Paola Mason & Annamaria Nicolli & Stefano Maso & Marco Fonzo & Bruno Scarpa & Chiara Bertoncello, 2021. "Future Healthcare Workers and Hepatitis B Vaccination: A New Generation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-9, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1515-:d:226966. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.