Immune response to hepatitis B vaccine in staff and patients in renal dialysis units.

Anti-HBs response was detected in 96 per cent of staff members in three haemodialysis units after three 20 microgram doses of hepatitis B vaccine and in 82 per cent of adult patients treated with three 40 microgram doses. The percentage of responders and levels of antibody remained unchanged at 12 months from the beginning of the trial. Three out of six children injected with three 20 microgram doses in a paediatric haemodialysis unit remained free from markers of HBV infection and had high levels of anti-HBs after the second dose of vaccine. The other three children who developed serological markers of HBV infection seroconverted to anti-HBc within six months from the first dose and, in one of them, antigenaemia at three and four months was detected.