Guía para la vacunación contra la influenza para pacientes inmunodeficientes

Mientras que la vacunación tanto para la fiebre estacional como para la H1N1 está entre las herramientas de prevención con mayor disponibilidad para evitar las complicaciones de la influenza, surge la pregunta: ¿deben los pacientes inmunodeficientes ser vacunados?
En general, existen dos tipos de vacunas diferentes, a las que se conoce como vacunas muertas o vivas. Las vacunas vivas contienen bacterias vivas o un virus que ha sido modificado. Eso significa que han perdido la habilidad de causar enfermedad y que son administradas por una vía que previene cualquier tipo de complicación por ellas. Las vacunas muertas, como su nombre lo indica, están fabricadas con virus o bacterias muertos.
Esta diferencia entre vacunas muertas y vivas es importante para las personas inmunocomprometidas.
Una información dada a conocer por la AAAAI, la Academia Americana de Alergia, Asma e Inmunología, recomienda que las vacunas virales vivas no sean administradas a pacientes con inmunodeficiencias, incluyendo a la vacuna antiviral intranasal viva FluMist®.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164349.php

Furthermore, family members or household contacts should not receive a live viral vaccine, as they may transmit the live virus to the immune deficient family member. On the other hand, seasonal influenza and H1N1 killed vaccines should be administered because there is no risk of disease from killed or microbial subunit vaccines in patients with immune deficiency.

“Patients with primary immune deficiency, but not patients with severe T-cell deficiency, should receive the H1N1 vaccine. Although the antibody response may be poor or low, the cell-mediated immune response may be a helpful immune response to the virus,” said AAAAI President-Elect Mark Ballow, MD, FAAAAI.

In addition to the immune deficient patient and his or her household members receiving vaccinations with the killed influenza virus, preventative measures such as hand washing should be practiced. If a family member or household contact begins to have flu symptoms, anti-viral influenza drugs should be made available and taken at the first sign of the symptoms.

According to the National Institutes of Health, it is estimated that each year about 400 children are born in the United States with a serious primary immune deficiency. An immune deficiency results in defects in the body’s ability to fight infections. Primary immune deficiency means that there is an inherited problem with the immune system.

Since these patients have a decreased resistance to infections, they often have repeated infections, or infections that are more severe and cause unexpected complications.

The AAAAI offers a comprehensive library of resources on the novel H1N1 virus-especially as related to allergic diseases-including treatment recommendations, vaccine news, case studies and information for patients. Subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified of the latest updates as they happen.

Source
AAAAI