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2002 AUG 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - According to researchers in Poland, at least two prominent risk factors place diabetes patients in that country at greater risk for acquiring hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections.
After finding that hospital-related infections and risky behaviors, are the two most common reasons for HBV transmission among individuals with diabetes, doctors in Poland urged that all diabetic patients become protected against infection by receiving HBV vaccines.
"Patients suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes (type 1) incur high risk of infection with hepatotropic viruses because of frequent hospitalization and blood tests," Waldemar Halota and colleagues reported in Medical Science Monitor. Halota's team works in the Department of Infectious Diseases at L. Rydygier Medical University in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
During their investigation, Halota and coauthors evaluated the extent to which HBV vaccine would afford protection against infection in diabetic individuals. Nearly 300 type 1 diabetes patients received the Engerix HBV vaccine at a high or a low dose during a standard 3-month dose administration schedule.
Follow-up showed that "98.7% of patients achieved protective anti-HBs titer after vaccination," according to Halota and associates.
Patient gender made a difference in terms of vaccine response because more women became protected after vaccination than men ...
Source: HighBeam Research, Diabetes patients in Poland at risk for hepatitis B virus, need...