Author/Authors :
Shaaban, F.A. National Research Centre - Department of Child Health, Egypt , Hassanin, A.I. National Research Centre - Department of Child Health, Egypt , Samy, S.M. National Research Centre - Department of Child Health, Egypt , Salama, S.I. National Research Centre - Department of Community Medicine, Egypt , Said, Z.N. Al-Azhar University - Faculty of Medicine for Girls - Department of Microbiology, Egypt
Abstract :
We assessed the long-term immunity to hepatitis B among 242 Egyptian children aged 6-12 years who had received a full vaccination course in infancy, and investigated the factors associated with immunity. Only 39.4% of the children had protective ( 10 IU/L) hepatitis B surface antibody levels (HBsAb). This proportion decreased with age but the decrease was not statistically significant. The mean level of HBsAb decreased significantly with increasing age (P = 0.026). A significant negative correlation was found between current age and HBsAb levels (r = -0.31, P = 0.041). Age and weightfor- age were found to be significant predictors of non-protective HBsAb levels.
