False positive Hepatitis B Surface Antigen due to recent vaccination

Qudsia Anjum

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Original Article

8 (

); 189-193

False positive Hepatitis B Surface Antigen due to recent vaccination

Qudsia Anjum

Received: 2013-11-08, Accepted: 2014-02-26, Published: 2014-05-25

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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Disclaimer:
This article was originally published by Qassim University and was migrated to Scientific Scholar after the change of Publisher.

Abstract

Objective: Hepatitis B is the most common viral hepatitis, potentially life threatening, with long term complications. Currently, vaccine is the most effective tool against hepatitis B infection. It is worthwhile mentioning that due to rampant use of hepatitis B vaccine (HBV), there have been concerns about hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) reactivity. This article aims to report the false positive results of HBsAg due to recent HBV among healthy male adults. Subjects and Methods: The subjects were selected from a Community Health Center, under the umbrella of a tertiary care hospital, Saudi Arabia. The data was retrieved from electronic medical records maintained at the clinic. Results: A total of 130 employees were recruited, only 117 records could be retrieved from the system. The mean age of participants was 31.34 + 12.73 years. The administration of HBV and HBsAg test was performed simultaneously. The lab reported three cases of HBsAg positivity, a false positive result of 2.56%. Repeat testing after one week for HBsAg was negative for the three cases. Conclusion: This study confirmed that HBsAg reactivity might be seen in regular screening programs for healthy adults.