Long term immunity to hepatitis B vaccine among a sample of secondary school students in Damietta

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the long term immunity to hepatitis B vaccine among secondary school students aging from 15-17 years and to evaluate the efficacy of vaccination schedule of HBV vaccine in Egypt. A total number of children from 15-17 years (teenagers’ students) in EL-Zarka district was 1106 from which 200 vaccinated children was the sample size of the study 103 (51.5%) male and 97 (48.5%) female. The studied students were chosen randomly from 3 secondary schools in EL-Zarka district. One hundred and eighteen students (59.0%) were from rural areas and 82 (41.0%) from urban areas. All included children were subjected to complete history taking by the self-administered questionnaire, clinical examinations and laboratory investigations (CBC, Anti HBs antibodies by ELISA and Anti HBc antibodies by ELISA). The titer of HBsAb in 40% is less than (10 IU L-1) meaning loss of immunity to hepatitis B and 59.5% of waning immunity (10-100), only 0.5% had good immunity. There was significant difference between different HBsAb levels as regard to gender distribution (i.e., gender had an effect on seroconversion of HBV vaccine). There was no effect of residence, socioeconomic status, BMI, ICU admission, feeding pattern, Hgb level and WBCs count on the seroconversion of HBV vaccine level. Hepatitis B vaccine has long lasting immunity extended to at least 15 years. No effect of urbanization, socioeconomic standards, BMI or Hgb% on level of HBsAb seroprotection.