Comparative immunogenicity of different hepatitis B vaccines among certain high risk groups in India

The immunogenicity of three different commercially available, well established Hepatitis B vaccines was determined. Three groups of high risk individuals were administered the vaccine, viz, Albugam (20 micrograms), Engerix-B (20 micrograms) and vaccine produced by Cheil Sugar & Co. (3 micrograms) respectively in a schedule of 3 doses as recommended by the manufacturers. A fourth group was administered a combination of the Albugam (2 doses) and Engerix-B (1 dose) vaccine. The sera collected 2 months after the 3rd dose showed seroconversion rates to be 100 percent and 95.34 percent respectively in the group which received the Albugam and Engerix-B vaccines respectively. The group which received a combination of both, the seropositivity rate was also 100 percent. The Chiel Sugar vaccine gave a seroresponse of only 52.38 percent. Geometric mean titres among the groups which received Albugam vaccine (501.30) were comparable to those receiving the combination of Engerix-B and Albugam (442.28). Those who received all 3 doses of Engerix-B vaccine showed a significantly lower GMT as compared to the above tow groups (GMT--43.14, p < .001, P < .001 respectively). The GMT in the group that received Cheil Sugar Vaccine was 3.81. Seroresponse was found to be inversely proportionate to age.