RESUMO
Four hundred new recruits in 1984, whose HBVM was seronegative before immunization, were selected and equally divided into two groups: vaccination and control. Hepatitis B vaccine was given to every one of the vaccination group once every month for three months. Anti-HBs responses were determined on the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 12th months after the first injection. The seropositive rates were shown to be 60%, 96.2%, 92.9% and 84.6% respectively. None of the recipients showed any abnormality in the tests of SGPT, HBsAg and anti-HBc. On the other hand, 1/3 of the recruits in the control group showed HBVM seropositive after 6-month and 1/2 of them became HBVM seropositive in one year. The above results proved that hepatitis B vaccine was safe, reliable and effective in the preven tion of hepatitis B in troops of special duty.