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The use of dried blood spots for assessing antibody response to hepatitis A virus after natural infection and vaccination
Author(s) -
Melgaço J.G.,
Pinto M.A.,
Rocha A.M.,
Freire M.,
Gaspar L.P.,
Lima S.M.B.,
Cruz O.G.,
Vitral C.L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21973
Subject(s) - seroconversion , medicine , vaccination , hepatitis a vaccine , hepatitis a , antibody , virology , hepatitis a virus , dried blood spot , dried blood , population , hepatitis , titer , immunology , viral disease , antibody titer , virus , biology , chemistry , environmental health , chromatography , genetics
During recent years, vaccination against hepatitis A has been implemented in several countries. It is expected that the increase in mass vaccination against hepatitis A will eventually result in a decreased prevalence of anti‐HAV antibodies in the general population. For this reason, a suitable clinical sample for diagnosis of hepatitis A must be sufficiently sensitive to enable detection of lower antibodies titers. In this study, the feasibility of using dried blood spots (DBS) was assessed for the detection of anti‐HAV antibodies after a natural infection and vaccination. Seventy‐four DBS and paired plasma samples were obtained from a group of college students for a cross‐sectional hepatitis A seroepidemiological study. Forty‐six students seronegative for anti‐HAV were selected randomly and immunized with an inactivated hepatitis A vaccine using an 0–6 month schedule. Seroconversion was monitored in paired plasma and DBS samples 6 months after the first dose followed by a period of 8 and 24 months after the second dose. A strong correlation between OD/CO rates of paired plasma and DBS samples for the detection of anti‐HAV was observed. The sensitivity and specificity of the DBS compared with plasma for the detection of anti‐HAV antibodies after natural infection was 100%. The sensitivity of DBS in samples collected 24 months after the second dose of hepatitis A vaccine was 95.4%. The results showed that DBS samples can be used for the detection of anti‐HAV antibodies both after natural infection or vaccination. J. Med. Virol. 83:208–217, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.