Emerging Microbes and Infections (Jan 2020)

Reduction of the occurrence of occult HBV infection in infants by increasing the dose of hepatitis B vaccine: a large prospective cohort study

  • Yi Li,
  • Zhixiu Liu,
  • Yarong Song,
  • Yiwei Xiao,
  • Jing Jiang,
  • Lili Li,
  • Xiangjun Zhai,
  • Jianxun Liu,
  • Zhongping Duan,
  • Feng Ding,
  • Jia Liu,
  • Hui Zhuang,
  • Liguo Zhu,
  • Jie Jiang,
  • Huaibin Zou,
  • Jie Wang,
  • Jie Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1808533
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1881 – 1891

Abstract

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ABSTRACTOccult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) has been observed among infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers despite successful immunoprophylaxis. This study enrolled 549 infants [349 infants received a 10μg/dose of hepatitis B vaccine (HepB), and 200 infants received 20μg/dose HepB] born to HBsAg-positive mothers with HBV DNA load >6log10IU/mL. The anti-HBs levels in the 10μg group were significantly lower than that in the 20μg group both at 7 [652.48 (564.05-754.82) vs. 1541.72 (1268.69-1873.51) mIU/mL, P<0.001] and 12 months old [257.44 (220.29-300.88) vs. 1073.41 (839.27-1372.78) mIU/mL, P<0.001]. The OBI incidence in the 10μg group was significantly higher than that in the 20μg group at both 7 [21.55% (25/116) vs. 7.56% (9/119), P=0.002] and 12 months old [17.07% (14/82) vs. 6.90% (6/87), P=0.041]. OBI incidence in infants with anti-HBs levels <100mIU/mL was higher than that of those with anti-HBs ≥100mIU/mL [35.71% (5/14) vs. 13.12% (29/221), P=0.036]. This study showed that increasing the immunisation dose from 10μg to 20μg significantly improved anti-HBs levels and decreased OBI incidence in infants with a high maternal viral load. We recommend 20μg HepB to treat this high-risk population.

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