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Should positive people get booster hepatitis shots?

Positive Living article • David Menadue • 22 July 2008

The simple answer is ‘no’ according to Dr Brian Hughes, Infectious Diseases Physician and hepatitis specialist at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. Hepatitis A vaccine is highly immunogenic and works just as well for people with HIV. It doesn’t lose effectiveness(Of a drug or treatment). The maximum ability of a drug or treatment to produce a result regardless of dosage. A drug passes efficacy trials if it is effective at the dose tested and against the illness for which it is prescribed. In the standard procedure, Phase II clinical trials gauge efficacy, and Phase III trials confirm it. over time so a booster is never needed. Hepatitis B (HBVHepatitis B virus) vaccination is different and a small proportion of all recipients don’t get an adequate antibody response to the vaccine. The lower your CD4 count, the more likely you will not get a response. Therefore, double dosing is initially recommended for people whose CD4 count is less than 350. Testing for a response is then recommended for those with significant immunosuppression and if no response is recorded a further double dose can be given. If there is still no response then yearly testing for possible HBV infection is recommended.

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From Positive Living

This article was first published in the July 2008 issue of Positive Living — more than three years ago.

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