New Hepatitis B Vaccine Schedule for Children with Celiac Disease

The article by ertekin et al. published in hepatitis monthly indicates that a new hepatitis b virus (hbv) vaccine schedule should be created for children with celiac disease (cd), and the response of all children with cd to the hbv vaccine should be routinely investigated (1). the authors investigated a group of children with cd vaccinated against hbv and found that the anti-hbs titer was not detected in a significant percentage (38.5%) of children. in addition, the clinical presentation of the disease and dietary compliance of the patients seemed to play a role in nonresponsiveness to the hbv vaccine. therefore, the authors suggest a different immunization schedule. most studies indicate that major histocompatibility complex (mhc) and human leukocyte ii antigens (hla-ii) are responsible for nonresponsiveness to hbv vaccine (2-5). however, nemes et al. (6)