Student health policy of a German medical school – results of a cross sectional study concerning students' immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases

https://doi.org/10.1078/1438-4639-00333Get rights and content

Abstract

Medical students come into contact with infectious materials early in their medical education. Aim of this study was to assess medical students’ immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases and to ensure immunity against hepatitis B.

An occupational health medical was offered to all medical students with special emphasis on preclinical students. The examination included a check of the certificates of vaccination and serological tests concerning hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and, on request, HIV. A lecture on occupational risks and general precautions was given to the students.

In 7 of 804 tested students serological markers of a previous hepatitis B infection were discovered, fortunately none of the students was infectious. No case of infection with the hepatitis C virus (n=804) or HIV (n=700 tested voluntary) was identified. For 52 percent of the students vaccination against hepatitis B was necessary to guarantee protective immunity. Documented protection against other vaccine-preventable diseases as tetanus (71%), diphtheria (67%), poliomyelitis (56%), pertussis (2%), measles (32%), mumps (24%) and rubella (25%) was also insufficient.

As a result a vaccination against hepatitis B in childhood without documented response doesn't guarantee a sufficient protection. An occupational health medical at the beginning of preclinical training seems to be an adequate method of making medical students aware of occupational risks, immunization policies and the importance of occupational medicine.

References (23)

  • R.J. Jacobs et al.

    The cost effectiveness of hepatitis immunization for US college students

    Journal of American College Health

    (2003)
  • Cited by (16)

    • A global perspective of vaccination of healthcare personnel against measles: Systematic review

      2014, Vaccine
      Citation Excerpt :

      Evidence of measles immunity is also essential for interpreting data on measles vaccine coverage among healthcare personnel. With rare exception [143,144], most of the articles we reviewed which reported on vaccination coverage did not describe whether healthcare personnel had other evidence of measles immunity, making it impossible to assess true vaccination coverage and the potential numbers of susceptible healthcare personnel. These issues also complicated interpreting studies on measles susceptibility in healthcare personnel; while some studies were comprehensive and representative in testing all or almost all healthcare personnel irrespective of evidence of measles immunity, many studies did not provide details regarding the subset of healthcare personnel tested.

    • Obligatory occupational health check increases vaccination rates among medical students

      2008, Journal of Hospital Infection
      Citation Excerpt :

      In 2001 Radon et al. reported that the vaccination status of students of the medical school in Munich, Germany was unsatisfactory.15 Schmid et al. also confirmed relevant vaccination gaps in medical students at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.7 These results indicate that even in medical students and physicians, vaccination gaps are common; academic knowledge alone is clearly insufficient to modify behaviour.

    • Needlestick injuries and other occupational exposures to body fluids amongst employees and medical students of a German university: incidence and follow-up

      2007, Journal of Hospital Infection
      Citation Excerpt :

      An occupational health medical at the beginning of the pre-clinical training is helpful for making individuals aware of occupational risks, immunization policies and the importance of universal safety precautions. In addition, advice regarding the management and follow-up of OEB is essential.13,14 One-quarter of employees stated they had no recollection of the hospital's handout concerning OEB, even though this handout had been distributed liberally and was also available on the Intranet.

    • Needlestick injuries during medical training

      2006, Journal of Hospital Infection
      Citation Excerpt :

      It is therefore important to emphasize vaccination early in medical training. Improvement could be made by scheduling a special lecture or course during early pre-clinical training, as proposed by Schmid et al.20 Another problem shown in the present study was poor compliance with the vaccination scheme. This compliance has been shown to be improved by sending short messages via mobile phones as a reminder for appointments.21

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text