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No increase in demyelinating diseases after hepatitis B vaccination

Nature Medicine volume 5, pages 964–965 (1999)Cite this article

To the editor—Anecdotal reports on recombinant hepatitis B vaccination have suggested that the vaccine may give rise to demyelination in the central nervous system1. Some molecular features of both the virus and the vaccine could, theoretically, account for such adverse events2. We report here the first population-based controlled study on this question. Our results do not support the assumption that hepatitis B vaccination induces demyelination.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by grants from the Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung, the Deutsche Multiple Sklerose-Gesellschaft and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (ZI 448/7-1). The authors thank Susan Letham for critical reading and Dr. Robert Nitsch for discussions.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Charité, Berlin, 10098, Germany

    Frauke Zipp & Karl M. Einhäupl

  2. SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, 1330 Rixensart, Belgium

    John G. Weil

Authors
  1. Frauke Zipp
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  2. John G. Weil
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  3. Karl M. Einhäupl
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Correspondence to Frauke Zipp.

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Zipp, F., Weil, J. & Einhäupl, K. No increase in demyelinating diseases after hepatitis B vaccination. Nat Med 5, 964–965 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/12376

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