Health Services Staff Publish Hepatitis B Research
Theresa Smith, CRNP, nurse at Health Services, presents research on non-immunity to Hepatitis B after childhood vaccination.
Kathy McGovern, CRNP, director of Health Services, and Theresa Smith, CRNP, nurse at Health Services, published their joint research on the decrease in immunity to Hepatitis B over a 15-year period.
The study, which compared blood samples from volunteer Physician Assistant and Physical Therapy students at Arcadia to their childhood vaccination records, found a progressive decrease in immunity to Hepatitis B. McGovern and Smith found that over 15 years between the final vaccination at age 5 and being tested at Arcadia University, a significant number of blood samples showed non-immunity. They concluded that, due to this decrease, these students would require a booster series to increase their immunity to the disease.
In June, McGovern and Smith presented this research at the annual American College Health Association conference in San Francisco.
