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Media Releases
Flu Vaccine Might Benefit People with Lupus
Columbia, Mo. (Sept. 20, 2005) - Flu season is months away, but early fall is the best time to get defense against the annual bug.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year, complications from the flu virus cause more than 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations, many of which are preventable.
Public health officials recommended that most healthy adults and children over 6 months should get a flu shot. The flu vaccine is particularly useful in preventing life-threatening complications in people with heart disease, lung conditions, diabetes, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS and other chronic ailments.
But what about people with autoimmune diseases such as lupus?
Recent recommendations from some European researchers suggest that people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) might benefit from a flu shot. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can lead to the body destroying its own organs. Traditionally, there have been theoretical concerns about giving flu shots to people with lupus for fear the vaccine might trigger a flare-up. But a recent study presented at the Sixth European Lupus Meeting suggests that people with SLE who get vaccinated against the flu have a lower risk of developing pneumonia or bronchitis, both of which can worsen their underlying disease.
Only two of the study's 69 patients who were vaccinated developed bronchitis. None of those who received the flu shot developed pneumonia.
"This study's results go along with my gut instinct that a vaccination is a good idea in lupus patients, especially if they are on high doses of immunosuppressant medications," says Dr. Chuck Siva, assistant clinical professor of rheumatology at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and collaborator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC).
Doctors have long refrained from blanket recommendations for or against a flu vaccine in people with autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune diseases include more than 80 ailments such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma and some thyroid conditions. More than 10 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases, which are caused by an immune system gone awry. In autoimmune disorders, the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the body's own tissues and organs.
Because vaccines work by provoking the immune system to create antibodies against viruses, it is possible for a vaccine to wake up an underlying autoimmune disorder in people who have a genetic predisposition. While anecdotal evidence of a relationship between vaccines and autoimmune diseases exists, the jury is still out on whether there is a strong enough correlation between the two.
So should relatively healthy people who have been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition or people with strong family history of autoimmune diseases get the flu shot?
Many people with autoimmune conditions take powerful immunosuppressant drugs that make them vulnerable to infections. Therefore, a flu vaccine might be very appropriate to prevent complications from the flu. However, a flu vaccine should be administered only under the supervision of a physician.
Because each and every autoimmune disease is different and develops differently in different people, those who have an autoimmune condition need to discuss the flu vaccine with their primary care physician or a specialist, Siva says.
The flu vaccine comes in two forms - nasal spray and injection. The injection contains a killed virus and is approved for use in people older than six months, including healthy people and people with chronic medical conditions. The nasal spray is made with live, weakened flu viruses and is approved for use in healthy people 5 years to 49 years of age and women who are not pregnant.
Patients with autoimmune disease on immunosuppressive therapy should NOT receive the nasal influenza vaccine, Siva warns.
The CDC recommends that the family members of people with suppressed immune systems should NOT get the nasal vaccine as well.
The 10 most prevalent autoimmune diseases in the United States are Graves' disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, vitiligo, type 1 diabetes, pernicious anemia, multiple sclerosis, glomerulonephritis, lupus and Sjogren syndrome.
Some of the complications caused by flu include: bacterial pneumonia, dehydration, and worsening of chronic medical conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma or diabetes. Children may get sinus problems and ear infections.
To arrange an interview with a MARRTC rheumatologist, contact Becky Woelfel, MARRTC Senior Information Specialist, at woelfelr@missouri.edu or by calling (573) 882-2914.
The Missouri Arthritis Research Rehabilitation and Training Center (MARRTC) was established in 1971 at the University of Missouri-Columbia Arthritis Center. MARRTC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133B031120) and is the only federally funded arthritis rehabilitation research and training center in the country.
As part of the MU Health Communication Research Center (HCRC), MARRTC's mission is to become a national leader in the areas of disability management and communication, improve the quality of life and promote independent living among people who have arthritis and arthritic conditions. MARRTC's core message is "Disability is everyone's issue."
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