Hepatitis A And B Vaccine Combo Protects When Accelerated Schedule Needed.(Brief Article)

2002 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - People traveling at the last minute to areas where hepatitis A and B virus (HAV, HBV) infection rates are high can be protected from infection by receiving a combination vaccine on an accelerated schedule.

In fact, a research team in Munich, Germany, indicates that most individuals who receive the combined vaccine are afforded protection against both viruses within as little as 2 months after the first dose of a three-dose series is administered, an advantage, they say, for people who must travel on short notice. The combination vaccine reduces the number of shots a person would have to take to complete the vaccine series.

The group's randomized, multicenter study compared the effects of giving Twinrix, the combination vaccine, with separate hepatitis A and B vaccines to several volunteers, who received the vaccines within a 21-day dosing schedule. Those randomized to receive separate vaccines received both hepatitis A and B vaccines on day 0, and hepatitis B vaccine only on days 7 and 21, while those who received the combination vaccine received one shot on each of the same 3 days. Individuals in both groups received vaccine booster doses at the 12th month of the study.

"At month 1, 100% of subjects in the combined group and 99% of the controls were seropositive for anti-HSV antibodies," said H.D. Nothdurft and colleagues, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen. "The corresponding seroprotection rates for anti-HBs antibodies were 82.0% and 83.9%, respectively," they added.

As little as 1 week after the ...