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. 2015 Nov 22:15:542.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-015-1278-0.

Health care workers in Pearl River Delta Area of China are not vaccinated adequately against hepatitis B: a retrospective cohort study

Yu-Bao Zheng  1   2 , Yu-Rong Gu  3   4 , Min Zhang  5   6 , Ke Wang  7   8 , Zhan-Lian Huang  9   10 , Chao-Shuang Lin  11   12 , Zhi-Liang Gao  13   14
Affiliations

Health care workers in Pearl River Delta Area of China are not vaccinated adequately against hepatitis B: a retrospective cohort study

Yu-Bao Zheng et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Backgrounds: Health-care workers' (HCWs) exposure to bodily fluids puts them at risk of hepatitis B virus HBV infection. This study investigated HBV vaccination practices and outcomes in HCWs and assessed postvaccination seroprotection across HCWs in different departments.

Methods: A survey of HCWs in a Chinese public general hospital was carried out with a retrospective cohort of 1420 hospital HCWs (458 males and 962 females). HBV vaccination status (10-μg/dose used) was investigated in the cohort from vaccination records from the period of 1988 to 2008. Blood samples were collected and tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV antibodies (anti-HBs).

Results: The overall vaccination (complete course) and HBsAg carrier rates among HCWs were 40.42 % (574/1420) and 6.13 % (87/1420), respectively. Vaccination rates differed by department, with HCWs in internal medicine (39.5 %) and emergency (42.0 %) departments having particularly low rates. The natural infection rate was 7.53 % (107/1420) among HCWs. HCWs in the department of infectious diseases (vaccination rate, 57.8 %) had the highest rate of antibody produced by natural infection (88.2 %).

Conclusion: The vaccination rate was a disappointingly low among HCWs in Pearl River Delta Area of China. HCWs working in infectious diseases departments and technicians were at particularly likely to have been infected with HBV. A concerted effort is needed to bring vaccination rates up among Chinese HCWs in Pearl River Delta Area of southern China.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A flow diagram of study participants
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