Active immunization against hepatitis B virus (HBV) with low-doses of plasma-derived vaccine by intradermal route

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Flair José Carrilho, Maria Lúcia Queiroz, Luiz Caetano da Silva, Luís Edmundo Pinto da Fonseca, Celso Granato, Isabel Oba, Leda Obara
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 1989
• Subjects: Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B vaccine; Immunization; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46651989000200005; https://doaj.org/article/3df19772c50e43f288cbbf0ee82f3414

Schedule for vaccination against HBV infection has usually been based on three separate injections of 20 meg of the vaccine by intramuscular route. One of the main shortcomings to its use in large scale programs has been its high cost. Ninety out of 300 health workers were submitted to three injections of 2 meg of plasma-derived vaccine (PDV) by intradermal (ID) route on days 0, 30, and 180. Anti-HBs was detected in 74 (82.2%) after the second dose and in 80 (88.9%) after the third dose, a non-significant difference. However, levels above 10 times the cut-off were observed in 29 (32.2%) and 77 (85.5%), respectively (p < 0.001). The results showed that a low-dose schedule is effective when used in health workers and should be tried with other risk groups.