The prevalence of anti-HBc antibodies in groups of medical workers who were either unvaccinated or vaccinated against hepatitis B without prior testing for HBV markers

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Abstract

An increased risk of infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) more often detected by testing for HBsAg remains in healthcare professionals. Hiv-HBc is also considered a reliable HBV marker and is recommended as an “epidemiological” screening for former HBV exposure, but is less commonly used in practice. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of anti-HBc in groups of unvaccinated and HBV-vaccinated medical workers. The study sample consisted of 1.597 blood serum samples collected from medical workers who underwent primary three-dose hepatitis B vaccination and 46 unvaccinated employees aged 18 years and older from five inpatient and outpatient medical organizations. Blood serum samples were tested for anti-HBs and anti-HBc antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A comparative analysis for the presence of blood anti-HBc revealed that during the primary hepatitis B vaccination, anti-HBc seroconversion in the vaccinated and unvaccinated cohort was 35.4% and 76.1%, respectively, which is twice as more than in the vaccinated (p < 0.001) subjects. The results of seroconversion in the vaccinated group indicate that the vaccination was carried out upon HBV infection or latent hepatitis B. The lack of seroconversion was noted in 23.9% and in 64.6% of unvaccinated and of vaccinated employees, respectively (p < 0.001). Accordingly, anti- HBc are detected 2.7 times less frequently in vaccinated individuals compared to the unvaccinated cohort. The presence of anti-HBc was not found to depend on the level of humoral immunity. The specific gravity of anti-HBc+ in the groups with anti-HBs < 10 mIU/ml and anti-HBs > 10 mIU/ml is almost the same in both groups — 23.8% and 23.7%, respectively. Distribution of anti-HBс post-immunization was as follows: group 1 (3 months — 5 years); group 2 (6–15 years old) and group 3 (16–23 years old) with and without total anti-HBV antibodies showed the lowest number (5.4% and 3.4%) of individuals with anti-HBs among vaccinated subjects in group 1, which indirectly evidences about the effect of vaccination in preventing infection with the virus in the next 5 years. The study results point at a need for pre-vaccination anti-HBс testing to determine prevalence of infection and identify groups requiring further in-depth HBV testing.

About the authors

N. A. Magomedova

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University; Dagestan State Medical University, Ministry of Health of Russia

Email: khirasulova@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0001-7110-7951

Assistant Professor, Department of Social Hygiene, Organization of Surveillance with a Course of Laboratory Diagnostics, PhD Student, Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies

Russian Federation, Moscow; Makhachkala

M. P. Kostinov

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University; I. Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera

Email: monolit.96@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1382-9403

Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, RAS Corresponding Member, DSc (Medicine), Professor, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

Isabella A. Khrapunova

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University; Central Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of Rospotrebnadzor

Email: izabella-khrapunva@rambler.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9327-4163

DSc (Medicine), Professor of the Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies, Leading Researcher, Laboratory for the Prevention of Infections Associated with the Provision of Medical Care

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

A. V. Linok

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University; I. Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera

Email: linok_a_v@staff.sechenov.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5980-8560

PhD (Medicine), Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies, Researcher, Laboratory for Epidemiological Analysis and Monitoring of Infectious Diseases

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

M. N. Loktionova

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University; Central Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of Rospotrebnadzor

Email: m.lokt@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1332-519X

PhD (Medicine), Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies, Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Epidemiology of Natural Focal Infections

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

V. B. Polishchuk

I. Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera

Email: polischook@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0533-0909

PhD (Medicine), Leading Researcher, Laboratory of Vaccine Prophylaxis and Immunotherapy

Russian Federation, Moscow

N. E. Yastrebova

I. Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera

Email: yastreb03@rambler.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6911-1345

DSc (Medicine), Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Immunochemical Diagnostics

Russian Federation, Moscow

A. A. Poddubikov

Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: arseniypoddibikov@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0009-0003-7494-3554

3rd Year Student, N.V. Sklifosovsky Institute of Clinical Medicine

Russian Federation, Moscow

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Copyright (c) 2025 Magomedova N.A., Kostinov M.P., Khrapunova I.A., Linok A.V., Loktionova M.N., Polishchuk V.B., Yastrebova N.E., Poddubikov A.A.

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