[Bassette]

My son is three and has been home for nearly three years. He came home at 5.5 months and his doctor in Guatemala gave him his last hep shot too soon. A whole month too soon. Not sure why they were trying to sqeeze it in because it had to be redone due to the short time span between shot 2 and 3.

I will spare alot of boring details,.. trying to make this short.

Basically I wonder how many families who did the titers test on their guat tot found that the hep shots in Guat were not strong enough and had to be redone. This question is for families whose child would have been given all three before they came home.

I have heard the vaccs are sometimes not as strong as US standards and sometimes have to be redone. Kiran was given 4 hep shots all together, 3 in guat (one being too soon) and a fourth hep shot here.

He's going to have the titer's test in 6 weeks but this mom wants to gage some expectation NOW,..kwim? Thanks.

[jaymo]

bumping for ya ... hope you get the answers that you need and that are helpful to all of us
maura.

[DPline]

My son (home at 20 months) had all three Hep A and Hep B shots in Guatemala, and his titers came back fine on both.

Hope that helps!

[lotterino]

I'm sorry I don't have any info for you, but I wanted to say HELLO! Haven't seen you on here forever!

[Traceybch]

Hi there,

Our Son came hore at 7 months old this past March. He had to have all of his immunizations redone, with the exception of Hepatitis. Not sure what happened there. He appeared to have all of them given based on his records.

Take Care,
Tracey

[LadyTink]

Gabriella came home at 5 1/2 months, too. I don't remember how many Hep shots she had before she came home, but I do know that the titers showed they were not strong enough. So, we had to redo them. Hope this helps.

[Leebert2]

Hi Bassette!

We are going to have the titers on Bella too. She will be three in February. Another adoptive mom alerted me that her baby coming from the same foster home using the same doctor had her titers for Hep show that the shots had to be re-done. Actually, a couple of others too. I know the shots were done there, but just like you said - sometimes they are not strong enough. With this adoption, I am going to have titers done before we continue with any shots here at all. I wish I had known to do this in 2004.

P.S. I hope no one thinks I am being critical of the doctors in Guatemala. I know that this situation is not created on purpose - it is because of limited resources. Just thought I should clarify!

[widgit]

We had titers done on both our children. The kids went to the same Guatemalan doctor's office at nearly the same time for their vaccines (because they were born a day apart).

Our son's titers showed that all of his vaccines were effective. Our daughter's showed that most of hers were NOT fully effective and had to be repeated.

Our kids have been sick A LOT the past 6 months, and personally, I'm happy to know that I don't have to worry about some of the really scarry diseases.

[nurse_reedle]

Just to let you know, MANY people in the US are walking around thinking that they are immunized when in fact their vaccines didn't "take". Vaccines often don't take for whatever reason, but they typically are not titered and redone in the states. Also, if it is a series of shots and they haven't had the complete series, it doesn't mean the earlier ones need redone. The series has to be complete beofre you can gauge whether or not immunity took. Also, if anyone else has shots that are given to their child early, as in the case of the Hep B, I would have titers done BEFORE giving anymore vaccines. Vaccines are a very dangerous drug and really bad side effects can and do happen, sometimes leaving permanant damage, so don't just say ok give them more.....make sure you do your research and make sure you ask for titers before any vaccines are given again. Just an FYI.

[Mariais5]

Bryce came home at 6 1/2 months and had two Hep shots done in Guat... Titers showed no Hep in her system and shots are being redone.. We still haven't gotten back the results from the other titers we had done..

[Bassette]

Thank you for your responses.

I am concluding that I should expect anything. He may be good to go or he may need more hep shots.


P.S. Hi right back at ya Sarah and Leebert.

[Bassette]

I wanted to post a follow up for reference.

We got Ki's titers results this week and his doc said he could be dipped in HepB he is so immune.

We don't plan to dip him in HepB but if it happens by accident apparently he's going to be just fine. Good to know.

[DPline]

Great news! Glad to hear it turned out well!