MAJOR ADVERSE REACTIONS TO YEAST-DERIVED HEPATITIS-B VACCINES - A REVIEW

Yeast-derived recombinant DNA hepatitis B vaccines usage became widely accepted since the early 1990's. Severe adverse events have been repo rted infrequently in adults and rarely in infants and children given h epatitis B vaccine in the ten years which have passed since the introd uction of the vaccine. Some of the data were summarized in previous re view articles. Our review of the literature revealed reports of seriou s adverse reactions which included immediate reactions (anaphylaxis an d urticaria) as well as delayed reactions, including skin, rheumatic, vasculitic (including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and glumerulonephri tis), hematologic, ophthalmologic and neurologic reactions. These case s were summarized and a pathogenetic mechanism is offered. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.