Adherence to the hepatitis B virus vaccination and low rate of infection in dentists from Goiania, Brazil

Background: There are no official data available on the vaccine coverage by professional category or by risk groups in Brazil, where the national vaccination program began in 1994, when the vaccine against the hepatitis B virus (HBV) became available for individuals in risk groups, including the dental health care workers.

Objective: Aiming at the determination of the vaccination rate against HBV among dentists and at the evaluation of the antibody seroprevalence in the same population in a serological screening performed among dentists from Goiania, Central West region of Brazil, a randomized sample of 678 professionals among 3,030 registered in the Regional Council of Dentistry were included in this study.  Methods: Each participant answered a questionnaire about HBV vaccination and risk factors for HBV infection after a written consent and a blood sample was collected from each dentist for the determination of the serological markers: HBsAg, anti-HBsAg and total anti-HB by an immunoenzymatic method using comercial kits (Bioelisa - Biokit- Spain).
Results: Positives results for total anti-HBc were observed in 38 dentists (5.6%) and none of than were positive for the HBsAg. A high vaccination rate of 98.4% was observed, although 11.4% of the individuals did not complete the three dose vaccination schedule. This is a cross sectional study on the seroprevalence of the serological markers and, therefore, it does not allow for vaccine response analysis, considering the need for pre- and post-exposure evaluation in such cases. From 629 vaccinated dentists that were negative for total anti-HBc, 86.3% had an anti-HBsAg positive result.
Conclusions: A high prevalence of vaccinated dentists and high rate of immunity conferred by the vaccine were observed, which may represent a positive impact of the national vaccination program for risk groups in Brazil.