Abstract

Research Article

Status of protection against Hepatitis B infection among healthcare workers (HCW) in a tertiary healthcare center in India: results can’t be ignored!

Pandey Prashant, Agarwal Nitin*, Das Suryasanta and Dharmendra Kumar

Published: 19 January, 2018 | Volume 2 - Issue 1 | Pages: 001-005

Background and Aims: the Aim of the study was to find the level of protection among the healthcare workers (nurses, doctors, housekeeping staff and general duty assistants) by doing Anti-HBsAb titer and vaccinate those who were not properly immunized against HBV infection.

Materials and Methods: The study was approved by the Institutional review board of the Hospital. The study group included doctors, nurses, technical staff and lab attendants. Anti-HBs antibody titer was done on Vitros 3600 (OCD, USA). Tests were performed according to manufacturer’s instruction. Vaccine provided was Engerix B (GSK Glaxo, Belgium). Vaccination was provided to all employees had titer below 10 miu/ml.

Results: 489 of 794(61.5%) HCW had no history of previous vaccination and only 293 (36.9%) subjects had complete vaccination. Only 60.8 % (482/794) of the total subjects had titer above 10 miu/ml and were protected against Hepatitis B. Around 80.6% (246/305) of those who were fully vaccinated and 40.8% (237/489) of those who were not vaccinated previously had protective anti-HBs titers(>10 miu/ml). Majority (86.8%, 271/312) who had titer below 10 miu/ml were unvaccinated. Two of eight employees who had history of needle stick injury in past were found non-immune to Hepatitis-B infection.

Conclusion: Despite being involved in the procedures with high chances of infections through needle stick or other exposures, only one third of health care workers were vaccinated against hepatitis B. We recommend that all the HCWs should be vaccinated for Hepatitis B and their anti-HBs levels determined at regular intervals.

Read Full Article HTML DOI: 10.29328/journal.jhcr.1001005 Cite this Article Read Full Article PDF

Keywords:

Hepatitis B; Vaccination; AntiHBs antibody titer; Healthcare workers

References

  1. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Quarterly Newsletter. 2014; 3.
  2. Beltrami EM, Williams IT, Shapiro CN, Chamberland ME. Risk and management of blood-borne infections in health care workers. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2000; 13: 385-407. Ref.: https://goo.gl/V8Mo6b
  3. Luiz A, Dirce M. Hepatitis B in health care workers: prevalence, vaccination and relation to occupational factors. Braz J Infect Dis. 2005; 9: 384-389. Ref.: https://goo.gl/nG75MM
  4. Ganczak M, Ostrowski M, Szych Z, Korzen M. A complete HBV vaccination coverage among Polish surgical nurses in the light of anti-HBc prevalence: A cross-sectional sero-prevalence study. Vaccine. 2010; 28: 3972-3976. Ref.: https://goo.gl/wgpQuS
  5. Prüss-Ustün A, Rapiti E, Hutin Y. Estimation of the global burden of disease attributable to contaminated sharps injuries among health-care workers. Am J Ind Med. 2005; 48: 482-490. Ref.: https://goo.gl/Y4WCny
  6. Sukriti, Pati NT, Sethi A, Agrawal K, Agrawal K, et al. Low level of awareness, vaccine coverage, and the need for booster among health care workers in tertiary care hospitals in India. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2008; 23: 1710-1715. Ref.: https://goo.gl/LZ9Mtt
  7. Duseja A, Arora L, Masih B, Singh H, Gupta A, et al. Hepatitis B and C Virus-prevalence and prevention in health care workers. Trop Gastroenterol. 2002; 23: 125-126. Ref.: https://goo.gl/1ZhJ9U
  8. Shrestha SK, Bhattarai MD. Study of hepatitis B among different categories of health care workers. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2006; 16: 108-111. Ref.: https://goo.gl/mo8Q2L
  9. Talaat M, Kandeel A, El-Shoubary W, Bodenschatz C, Khairy I, et al. Occupational exposure to needle stick injuries and hepatitis vaccine coverage among healthcare workers in Egypt. Am J Infect Control. 2003; 31: 469-474. Ref.: https://goo.gl/PjiVgb
  10. Immunization of Health-Care Personnel:Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2011; 60: 1-45. Ref.: https://goo.gl/895iVk
  11. Chaudhari CN, Bhagat MR, Ashturkar A, Misra RN. Hepatitis B Immunisation in Health Care Workers. Med J Armed Forces India. 2009; 65: 13-17. Ref.: https://goo.gl/AJj6yi
  12. Prüss-Üstün A, Rapiti E, Hutin Y. Estimation of the global burden of disease attributable to contaminated sharps injuries among health-care workers. Am J Ind Med. 2005; 48: 482-490. Ref.: https://goo.gl/Y4WCny
  13. Keating GM, Noble S. Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (Engerix-B): A review of its immunogenicity and protective efficacy against hepatitis B. Drugs. 2003; 63: 1021-1051. Ref.: https://goo.gl/K5aB3b
  14. Adkins JC, Wagstaff AJ. Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine: A review of its immunogenicity and protective efficacy against hepatitis B. BioDrugs. 1998; 10: 137-158. Ref.: https://goo.gl/7R9rhS
  15. Hessel L, West DJ. Antibody responses to recombinant hepatitis B vaccines. Vaccine. 2002; 20: 2164-2165. Ref.: https://goo.gl/JR8cbU
  16. Singhal V, Bora D, Singh S. Prevalence of Hepatitis-B virus infection in healthcare workers of a Tertiary Care Centre in India and their vaccination status. J Vaccin Vaccine. 2011; 2: 118. Ref.: https://goo.gl/TejZgY
  17. Kumaraswamy PS, Nainar P, Balachandraperumal C, Panchapooranam AV. Hepatitis B vaccination is not yet a reality in supportive health care workers. J Sci Soc. 2014; 41: 176-178. Ref.: https://goo.gl/YMFLmv
  18. Zamani F, Fallahian F, Hashemi F, Shamsaei Z, Alavian SM. Immune Response to Hepatitis B Vaccine in Health Care Workers. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl. 2011; 22: 179-184. Ref.: https://goo.gl/BxYDNL
  19. Batra V, Goswami A, Dadhich S, Dinesh K, Bhargava N. Hepatitis B immunization in healthcare workers. Ann Gastroenterol. 2015; 28: 276-280. Ref.: https://goo.gl/q4Wdxo
  20. Ni YH, Chang MH, Huang LM, Chen HL, Hsu HY, Chiu TY et al. Hepatitis B virus infection in children and adolescents in a hyper endemic area: 15 year after mass hepatitis B vaccination. Ann Intern Med. 2001; 135: 796-800. Ref.: https://goo.gl/n2888U
  21. Durlach R, Laugas S, Freuler CB, Rodriguez VE, Costa M. Ten year persistence of antibody of hepatitis B Surface antigen in health care workers vaccinated against hepatitis B virus and response to booster vaccination. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2003; 24: 773-776. Ref.: https://goo.gl/sh547D

Figures:

Figure 1

Figure 1

Similar Articles

Recently Viewed

Read More

Most Viewed

Read More

Help ?