Vaccination and transient hepatitis B surface antigenemia

Hepatitis B vaccination is mandatory for all hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative hemodialysis (HD) patients with low hepatitis B surface antibody titers. We report a case of transient hepatitis B surface antigenemia, detected incidentally, in an HD patient after the second dose of Hepatitis B vaccine. The patient had to be isolated on a separate HD machine, in a separate room, until further investigations ruled out a true hepatitis B virus infection. This led to further unnecessary testing and generated great concern and anxiety for the patient. We present this case to emphasize that HD units should be aware of this phenomenon and that HBsAg testing be deferred until 4 weeks after vaccination to avoid HBsAg false positivity.