Immunization: Tracking the Response to Hepatitis B Vaccine

A series of hepatitis B vaccinations is a routine part of a child’s vaccination schedule, but no one knows how long immunity lasts among children born to healthy mothers. So researchers decided to measure immunity indirectly by testing the response to a booster shot in 378 healthy children and adolescents who had received hepatitis B vaccinations in infancy.

Over all, 99 percent of the children ages 5 to 7 and 83 percent of those ages 10 to 15 who received a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine responded to the booster, meaning that they showed continuing immunity. Among adolescents who had received a plasma-derived vaccine, 69 percent had an antibody response to the new shot. The older the children were, the more likely their immunity was waning: 97 percent of 5-year-olds had an antibody response, compared with 60 percent of 14-year-olds.
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Rebetol!

We guarantee delivery of your Rebetol (Ribavirin) order directly to your door Q Do I need to have the prescription for buying Rebetol?. If you have any of these conditions, you may not be able to use Rebetol, prescription or you may need a dosage adjustment or special tests during treatment. PEGINTRON/REBETOL is contraindicated in patients with autoimmune hepatitis, decompensated liver disease, and in patients with hemoglobinopathies read more

Cancer immune escape

Cancers are not viruses, however,and they don’t evade CTL in the same ways. One difference is that cancers evolve from square one each time. When you’re infected by a virus, that virus is the end-product of an unbroken chain of evolution that goes back millions or billions of years;it’s had time to evolve its own specialized molecules, which may or may not have been based on the host genome at some time but is now generally a standalone, distinct gene. Cancers don’t have that history. Each individual cancer arose independently within you,and it only has your lifespan5 in which to experiment with immune evasion.
A part of this selective destruction can lead to cancer immune escape. I’ve talked about the way chronic viruses (like hepatitis C and HIV) alter their protein sequences in such a way as to mutate MHC class I epitopes, so that immunodominant CTL no longer recognize infected cells. Cancers are much like chronic infections and they too mutate immunodominant epitopes, so that CTL can no longer recognize them.8 This is, obviously, a real concern in cancer immunotherapy trials.
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Rare blood virus found in almost 4 in 1,000 in Nunavut

Almost four in every 1,000 people in Nunavut may have a rare, incurable yet preventable virus called HTLV-1, a research report prepared for the Nunavut government has found. Known as the Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type One, HTLV-1 is transmitted through sexual intercourse, breastfeeding, blood-to-blood contact and needle sharing. In less than five per cent of those infected, it can cause cancer of the blood and disorders affecting the bladder, legs and nervous system.
"It's a concern as much as any sexually transmitted disease — as much as hepatitis C, hepatitis B, all these other viruses that are here that are preventable," Osborne told CBC News.
The study, which had its final report published in July, was prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada and Nunavut Health and Social Services.
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Chronic hepatitis C virus

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with glucose intolerance and, despite that, a favorable lipid pattern, according to findings published in the August issue of Gut. Furthermore, clearance of HCV seems to be facilitated by elevated triglycerides at the time of infection.
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Hepatitis A

The plasma collected from you is extremely vital in the healthcare industry and helps save the lives of future patients diagnosed with Hepatitis A. However, timing is very critical. The antibodies found in your plasma are at their highest level within the first three weeks of your illness. Therefore, if you or anyone that you know have been diagnosed with Hepatitis A, read more

New treatment for chronic hepatitis C leads to less side effects: study

A study result made public Monday by the Chinese University of Hong Kong reveals that combination of interferon beta-1a and ribavirin treatment for chronic hepatitis C creates less side effects.

Chronic hepatitis C is an important cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Currently, the standard treatment of chronic hepatitis C is combination of peginterferon-alfa and ribavirin, which, however, leads to common adverse effects including fever and flu-like symptoms, injection site reaction, depression and bone marrow suppression. This decreases patients' compliance and in turn reduces the treatment effect, the university said.read more