QUANTIFICATION OF HEPATITIS-B VACCINE-INDUCED ANTIBODIES AS A PREDICTOR OF ANTI-HBS PERSISTENCE

Hepatitis B vaccine-induced antibodies (anti-HBs) were quantified in 3 5 subjects (study group) and in an additional 24-59 subjects (controls ) during a period of 82 months after vaccination against hepatitis B a nd the values used as a basis to develop a logarithmic formula to desc ribe the post-booster antibody kinetics. The actual anti-HBs titres ar e shown to be proporational to the peak titre one month post-booster b ut inversely proportional to the number of months between the time of booster and of retesting. Using this model and an anti-HBs quantificat ion more than a month post-booster, the individual persistance of vacc ine-induced anti-HBs antibodies can be calculated.