Studies Find No Hazard for MS Patients in Hepatitis B Vaccine

The hepatitis B vaccine doesn’t cause multiple sclerosis in healthy people and doesn’t trigger flare-ups in MS patients, according to two studies in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. “I think, with the evidence we have now, it is safe, as safe as any other vaccines,” said Dr. Alberto Ascherio of the Harvard School of Public Health, who led one of the studies. “I don’t see why [its use] shouldn’t be continued.”

Hepatitis B is a potentially deadly virus that can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Some groups had recommended against its use in MS patients, despite a lack of evidence that it is hazardous.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II