The Associated Press - Sunday, March 20, 1983

The researchers also say they are convinced that, despite earlier worries, the vaccine is not linked to the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The vaccine, which became generally available last July, prevents one common type of hepatitis, a viral infection that causes inflammation of the liver.

Of more than 200,000 people who have been given the vaccine, only 118 became ill, the centers reported Thursday. Fifty-six of the illnesses were found to be unrelated to the vaccine. Only six of the people were seriously ill, the centers said.

The centers found no cases of immune deficiency in people who had received the vaccine since July, and just two cases, both in homosexual men, in the initial study and trial of the vaccine.

Acquired immune deficiency, a mysterious and often fatal breakdown of the body's disease-fighting system, has been found in more than 1,200 people in the United States, most of them homosexual men.

There Had Been Concern

Hepatitis B vaccine, first licensed in 1981, is made from the blood plasma of donors who have hepatitis B, most of whom are homosexual men. Because most of the donors are homosexual men, the centers said, there has been concern that the vaccine could be linked to acquired immune deficiency.

The vaccine, which costs about $100 for a series of three shots, has been given only to groups particularly prone to hepatitis, including homosexual men and medical personnel. For the most part, only medical workers whose employers are paying the high cost have received it, said Dr. Donald Francis, a hepatitis researcher with the centers' branch in Phoenix.

Researchers are very encouraged by the low incidence of complications, Dr. Francis said. Even in the six reported cases of serious illness, "the assumption is that none of them got it from the vaccine," he said.

"We're getting increasing confidence," he said. "It's nice to see that there's nothing you can attribute to the vaccine other than a sore arm."

The serious illnesses included two cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a nerve inflammation that can result in paralysis, and a case of meningitis, the centers reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. > Mild-to-moderate reactions from the vaccine included tremors, lesions, aches and pains, five hepatitis-like illnesses and other miscellaneous complaints, the centers reported.

RESEARCH; MEDICINE AND HEALTH; VACCINATION AND VACCINES; HEPATITIS
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