Background: There is a controversy about the relation between anti-hepatitis B (anti-HBs) antibody level and obesity. We designed this study to compare the vaccine efficacy in obese/overweight and non-obese cases. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 242 obese/overweight and 85 non-obese individuals were participated. Cases were selected from a referral clinic for obesity and a referral hepa...

We have previously demonstrated that the murine humoral immune responses to the group-specific a and subtype-specific d/y determinants of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) are controlled by H-2-linked immune response (Ir) genes. High responder (H-2d,q), intermediate responder (H-2a greater than b greater than k) and nonresponder (H-2f,s) haplotypes have been identified (8, 9). The kinetics an...

Healthcare workers are at high risk of blood borne infections especially Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Such an infection may progress to serious consequences. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV in all health workers in departments of Surgery in Azadi teaching hospital in Duhok. Anti-HBs antibody po...

Objective: To compare immunogenicity of a recombinant hepatitis B (HB) vaccine in two groups of neonates born in two cities of Iran with different geographic and ethnic backgrounds.   Materials and Methods: Ten micrograms of a recombinant HB vaccine was administered under field condition to Iranian healthy neonates at 0, 1.5 and 9 months intervals. The subjects consisted of two groups of 290 an...

Fifty six children with thalassaemia, and 118 healthy subjects, who had all been immunised with an intramuscular injection of hepatitis B vaccine (HB-VAX) into the deltoid area three years previously, were given booster doses intradermally. All responders (good = hepatitis B surface (HBs) antibody titre greater than or equal to 10 U/l; poor = HBs antibody titre less than 10 U/l) showed pronounc...

BACKGROUND Passively acquired maternal antibodies in infants may inhibit active immune responses to vaccines. Whether maternal antibody against hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) in infants may influence the long-term immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine remains unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Totally 338 pairs of mothers and children were enrolled. All infants were routinely vac...

BACKGROUND The level of HBsAg in some chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected individuals may decline over time so that it is not detectable in serum. OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of HBV vaccine in those who lost their HBsAg without seroconverssion to anti-HBs antibody. PATIENTS AND METHODS From April 1993 to December 2008, of 1603 chronic HBV-infected individuals, 34 (22 men and 12 wo...

introduction: zinc deficiency causes abnormalities in immune response. in chronic hemodialysis (hd) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (capd) patients, impaired immune responses to vaccination have been reported. therefore, we performed a study to determine the correlation between serum zinc levels and immune response to hepatitis b vaccination in patients on dialysis. methods: a cro...

A case of fulminant viral hepatitis type B in the late stage of pregnancy was successfully treated with glucagon-insulin therapy, corticosteroids and other drugs. A 26-year-old female (housewife and primipara) suddenly developed severe hepatic dysfunction and disturbance of consciousness at the 36th week of pregnancy. Sequential blood examinations revealed early response to HBs antibody and del...