RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Impact of universal preadolescent vaccination against hepatitis B on antenatal seroprevalence of hepatitis B markers in British Columbia women
JF Canadian Medical Association Journal
JO CMAJ
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 703
OP 704
VO 168
IS 6
A1 Meenakshi Dawar
A1 David M. Patrick
A1 Mark Bigham
A1 Darrel Cook
A1 Mel Krajden
A1 Helen Ng
YR 2003
UL http://www.cmaj.ca/content/168/6/703.abstract
AB COUNTRIES WITH A LOW RISK OF HEPATITIS B (HB) lack data on the effectiveness of universal HB vaccination programs for children. British Columbia began a program in 1992, offering HB vaccination to 11 year olds. We conducted an anonymous, unlinked serologic survey 7 years later, analyzing a random sample of specimens (n = 1215) from women aged 15–44 years who had undergone antenatal rubella testing. Among those aged 15–19 years inclusive there was no evidence of chronic HB (HB surface antigen), the proportion with evidence of acute HB (anti-HB core antibody) was only 0.6% (compared with 6.5% for the entire sample), and evidence of protective immunity was strong: the prevalence of anti-HB surface antibody (anti-HBs) was 79.1% (compared with 41.4% for the entire sample) and the geometric mean titre was 34.9 IU/mL (compared with 0.6–0.8 IU/mL for the older groups [p < 0.001]).