Prueba cutánea retardada, IgE total y anticuerpos específicos frente a la vacuna cubana Heberbiovac-HB en asmáticos cubanos

the hygienic hypothesis tries to give a coherent explanation to the increase of asthma in the developed countries. several studies focus their attention on the role played by immunizations in the immune system and on the influence they exert on atopy. the objective of this paper was to determine the differences among the serum concentrations of antibodies against the hepatitis b surface antigen (anti-agshb), the total ige (ige) and the area of the skin test with the vaccinal antigen (ag) of the cuban vaccine against hepatitis b, heberbiovac-hb, in asthmatic and non-asthmatic children. the influence of the severity of the clinical picture of asthma on the immune response against ag was evaluated. a prospective and cross-sectional study that included 103 asthmatic children attended at "william soler" children teaching hospital and 37 non-asthmatics from a health area of "julián grimau" primary care center in havana city, cuba, was conducted. all the children were vaccinated with the heberbiovac-hb vaccine according to the cuban vaccination scheme. ancova test was made to determine the differences between both groups. in the group of asthmatic children, duncan's post-host test was carried out to establish the differences according to asthma severity. the significant differences were centered on the skin tests. the area of the skin test in asthmatics was lower than that of the non-asthmatics; the control skin test (cst) and the skin test against the hepatitis b vaccine antigen (sthb), cst (166.5 vs. 233.6 mm2; p=0.0077) and sthb (1 020.4 vs. 1 318.15 mm2; p=0.0173). the severity of the clinical picture in asthmatics was directly related to the ige concentrations and inverse to the area of sthb. the asthmatic children responded with less area to the vaccinal compound in the delayed skin test. the answer deteriorated as the severity of asthma and the ige concentrations increased.