Background: Reports show that patients with end stage renal failure and\r\ntransplants present with reduced immunity to infections especially with\r\nHepatitis B Virus. This may make the patients respond poorly to hepatitis\r\nB vaccine with resultant poor seroconversion rate. This study examines\r\nthe efficacy of hepatitis B vaccine, in chronic renal failure (CRF), Post\r\nKidney Transplantation (PKT), and renal patients as compared to controls\r\nhealthy. Methods: A total of 303 subjects participated: One hundred and thirtythree\r\nimmunocompetent and immunocomprised individuals and 170\r\ncontrols were enrolled in this study. They were categorized into four\r\ngroups. Group I: Comprised 54 Chronic Renal Failure, Group II:\r\nComprised 21 End Stage Renal Disease patients, Group III: Comprised\r\n38 Post Kidney Transplant patients, Group IV: Control group comprised\r\n170 vaccinated blood donors and hospital staff. Detection of serological\r\nmarkers - HBsAg, Anti-HBs, HBeAg, Anti-HBe, HBcIgG, and HBcIgM\r\nwere performed by enzyme immune assays (EIA). The vaccination\r\nschedule comprised recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (Engerix B) 40 g\r\nintramuscularly at 0, 1, and 6 months.\r\nResults: Our results have documented successful vaccination in only\r\ngroup I, and III, with primary seroconversion 20.4% and 15.8%\r\nrespectively while none in group II, seroconvert and 100% of group lV\r\ndemonstrated successful vaccination. The remaining patients were HBV\r\ninfected.\r\nConclusions: It was concluded that controlling HBV infection in end\r\nstage of renal disease still pose a great deal of challenges. Based upon\r\nthis study results, we highly recommend stating vaccination strategy at\r\nan earlier stage of chronic renal disease. Furthermore, regular\r\nserological testing and booster injections are necessary for hyporesponders
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