People with Untreated Celiac Disease Show Resistance to Hepatitis B Vaccine

This was a very important finding. It could be quite helpful in the screening process that we should be doing. It could be of great value to college age celiacs who often present vague symptoms that are attributed to the stress of school. When the titers are checked in late adolescence the finding could aid in diagnosis before the most debilitating symptoms show up. Hopefully research into the 'quirk' will continue.

This information is so interesting. I am a nurse, and a celiac. I have had about 8 Hepatitis B vaccines and only converted briefly. This explains my problem and is very helpful information. Thank you.

I too have resistance to the Hep B vaccine but couldn't understand why until now. I have been gluten free for 2 years but the vaccine still won't take. Thanks for the information, it was very helpful!

This article is interesting. I am a nurse and went through TWO series of Hepatiris B vaccines and still had not antibodies built up. Recently I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue.

I'm wondering if this is applicable to other vaccines. I had the smallpox vaccine as a child and it never 'took'. Same for my husband. We are both celiacs and now on a gluten free diet.

This information was very helpful to me. I am a nurse and therefore recommended to keep my vaccinations up to date. I have had the Hep. B series twice now and still have been unable to build antibodies. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease last November and am still having difficulty giving up foods and taking control. Thanks for this information!!

This is interesting. Is it possible that it might have something to do with the yeast in the vaccine? Bakers yeast is just as much of a problem with some Celiacs as gluten. Could the body see the Bakers Yeast as a larger threat? Bakers yeast gives my son and I a horrible reaction. I didn't realize we had a bad intolerance to it when he was born (and gluten as well). His reflux kicked off at one week of age with a bought of conjunctivitis. When his eye was cultured the doctors were surprised that it pointed to allergy, since it was neither bacterial or viral induced. They dismissed it because what would a 1 week old baby be allergic too? Now that we know our health issues were gluten and bakers yeast induced. I have to wonder how effective a vaccine is if you're allergic to some of the ingredients...

The similarities in the stories are a bit scary. I, too am a nurse with Celiac Disease. My symptoms never fit the profile for celiac disease until I received the Hepatitis B virus vaccinations. My GI symptoms resolved when I completed the 6 months of shots. I theorize that the Hepatitis B virus actually was the trigger for my celiac to become active. No one else in my large family has ever been diagnosed with celiac disease.

My daughter (Coeliac) and son (gluten intolerant) were both part of a national serosurvey of vaccine preventable diseases conducted through the University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine & Health Sciences, here in New Zealand. The results of the study were released to participants in April 2008, and my children got individual results for several different vaccines. They were both found to have no immunity to Hepatitis B. My daughter also has no immunity to Measles.

I wouldn't be surprise if further studies like you describe find other vaccinations also an issue. In my daughter's case, with Measles, she had been re-vaccinated many years ago. This was because there was a recommendation for all children to be re-vaccinated, but I insisted on blood tests first to see if it was necessary. As it turned out, none of my three children had immunity to Measles, and they all then had the repeats. Even after the repeat my daughter was not immune. She and her brother have now been gluten free for 5 years, so it will be interesting to see if the Hep B vaccination that was repeated this morning will 'take' this time!