HAB vaccine remains effective a decade later

Van Damme P. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2011;doi:10.1097/INF.0b013e3182138296.

Ten years after they were vaccinated against hepatitis, children were still mounting “vigorous anamnestic responses” against hepatitis A and hepatitis B, according to a recent report.

Pierre Van Damme, MD, PhD, of the University of Antwerp, and researchers from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals conducted a follow-up study of Belgian children who had received a combined hepatitis A and hepatitis B (HAB) vaccine in 1998.

The study involved 232 children, and 120 were available for follow-up. About 40 children received a dose of monovalent hepatitis B vaccine between the sixth and 10th year of the study, with additional serum samples taken before and 1 month after they received a second “challenge dose” of hepatitis B vaccine; 25 of these children were available for follow-up.

All of the children remained seropositive for anti-hepatitis A virus antibodies for the study duration. More than 80% had hepatitis B virus antibodies 10 years after the initial dose.

The study researchers said there were no vaccine-related adverse events and that the additional dose of HBV was “well tolerated” by the younger and older children.

The study showed comparable results with a previously published 5-year study.

Van Damme and colleagues said the decrease in HBV antibodies does not necessarily indicate a loss of protection, adding that “immune memory 10 years after the primary vaccination course was shown through mounting of an anamnestic response to the challenge dose of HBV vaccine in all subjects whose antibody concentrations were less than 10 mIU/mL.”

The HAB vaccine is highly immunogenic and will confer long-term protection to healthy children, they concluded.

Disclosure: GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals was the funding source of the vaccine trial and was involved, along with the researchers, in all stages of the study conduct and analysis.

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