A SURVEY ON HEPATITIS-B VACCINATION POLICIES IN GENITOURINARY MEDICINE IN UK AND IRELAND

Objective-To applied in (GUM) departments Kingdom (UK) and Ireland wit h regard to hepatitis B vaccination. Design-All genitourinary medicine consultants were sent a questionnaire requesting information concerni ng their selection criteria and the management of patients offered Hep atitis B vaccine. If no response was obtained a second questionnaire w as sent. The survey was carried out in 1993. Setting-AU genitourinary medicine departments in UK and Ireland. Participants-234 consultants w ere sent the questionnaire. 153 consultants responded. Results-Overall , there was a 65.4% response rate to the questionnaire. Almost all gen itourinary physicians would offer the vaccine to male homosexuals and up to 74% offer it to all male homosexuals, intravenous drug users (IV DU) and prostitutes. Of the genitourinary physicians, 96% agreed that hepatitis B virus (HBV) serological markers should be checked prior to or simultaneously with vaccination, yet there was no agreement as to which marker should be performed. Up to 79% of consultants recalled th e patients to check their response to vaccination but only 61% offered long term follow up after vaccination. Conclusion-HBV vaccine is offe red to all male homosexuals, IVDU and prostitutes in GUM departments. Currently, the vaccine is not generally offered to patients who presen t with sexually transmitted diseases. Almost all genitourinary physici ans (96%) agree that HBV serological markers should be checked prior t o or simultaneously with the start of the vaccination course and 80% w ould request hepatitis B surface antibody levels after vaccination to identify inadequate responders and non-responders. From this survey, t here appears to be a need for uniform post-vaccination HBV screening a nd timing and frequency of booster doses.