Dr Bob,

A friend of mine who is a nurse said that people who dont respond to the Hep B vaccine could also be unable to produce enough hiv anti-bodies to be measured on a test. Is this true? This really worries me because I didnt respond to the Hep B jabs when i had to take them in relation to the job I was doing at the time - they said i hadnt produced enough (or any?) antibodies to continue the course of jabs. My mother also didnt respond to this vaccine. Would this have any bearing on my negative HIV test which was taken 6 months after exposure? Many thanks

Hi,

No! What your nurse friend told you is generally not true. A number of folks (me included) have not respond to the first series of hepatitis B vaccinations. However, that does not mean they (we) are not ready, willing and able to respond with specific antibody production to HIV infection. There is an enormous difference between the immune system's ability to recognize and respond to an exogenous vaccine challenge and its ability to mount an immunologic response to an active systemic infection!

Your negative six-month HIV-antibody test is definitively and conclusively negative.

Dr. Bob