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In a baby born to hep b mother its common practice to immunise actively and passively against hep b at birthor within 12 hours.the usually we need to repeat again the serology to look for hep antibody adn antigen detection.whats teh optimal time to do that.if done earlier(3 months) and the antibody is positive and antigen for hep is neg,do we need to repeat the test again in later time as could the antibody be from the mother.
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Screen infant for HBsAg and anti-HBs at 9-18 months of age (or 1-2 months after completion of vaccine series. If the child is HbsAg negative and Anti Hbs positive it suggests successful immunity. (There are no maternal anti HBs as mother does not have these antibodies). If the child is HbsAg positive and Anti HBs negative then it may suggest infection and probable chronic carrier. If the child is HbsAg negative and Anti HBs negative, it suggests that the child is susceptible to Hepatitis B and needs to be revaccinated.
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