Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Chronic Uremia: Long-term Follow-up of a Two-step Integrated Protocol of Vaccination

Active immunization is crucial for eradicating hepatitis B virus infection from dialysis units. A prospective study was performed in 63 consecutive chronic uremic patients, which included the following: (1) the intramuscular (IM) administration of 40 µg of a DNA-recombinant vaccine (Engerix-B, Smith Kline & French Laboratories, Milan, Italy) to all chronic uremic patients at 0, 1, 2, and 6 months; (2) the antibody titer determination at the seventh month (chronic uremic patients with a titer >100 mIU/mL received an IM booster dose of 40 µg at 18 months [group A], and those with a titer P