EDU: Vaccines and the Compromised Immune System (The Good News)

[Guest guest]

I think this EDU topic on Vaccines may end up getting divided into 3 posts. The

Good, which this one is, The Bad, and the Ugly. I'm not advocating any one

particular approach to the vaccine controversy, just presenting the research

information. I do have an opinion but I'm not sharing that. Speak with your

doctors or go on experience for what works for you.

Smiles, Caroline

Empress of CUS

Board Researcher, International Stills Disease Foundation

THE GOOD

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/bones/rheumatoid_arthritis/ra.treat.vacc.htm

Content excerpted from the s Hopkins White Paper on Arthritis.

Are vaccines safe for people with arthritis?

People with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus have special considerations when it

comes to vaccinations. Keeping your vaccinations up to date is especially

important if you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or lupus. Not only do the

immunosuppressive drugs used to treat these conditions increase your risk of

getting an infectious disease such as the flu or pneumonia, they make it harder

for your body to recover from these illnesses.

Yet only 38 percent of people age 65 and older with RA get vaccinated against

pneumonia, and only 32 percent get a yearly flu shot, according to a 2003 study

published in the Journal of Rheumatology. Part of this failure to follow

standard vaccination recommendations may come from the fear that vaccination

could cause problems for people with autoimmune disorders. When a person is

vaccinated, the immune system responds by producing antibodies that offer

protection against the disease. Because both RA and lupus involve a malfunction

of the immune system, some experts have theorized that vaccination could be

dangerous or ineffective for people with these conditions.

In fact, vaccines have been accused of causing everything from autism to

multiple sclerosis to arthritis. Careful studies have found no cause-and-effect

relationships, however, and people who are diagnosed with these disorders after

vaccination would have developed them anyway. The rubella vaccine can cause a

form of arthritis that may last for several weeks, but this type of arthritis

goes away on its own and does not progress to RA or lupus.

Another concern is that vaccination might worsen RA or lupus. Many studies

have looked at the effects of vaccination on lupus and found that getting

vaccinated does not worsen the disease. The effects of vaccination on RA have

been studied less extensively, but the studies that have been performed have

found no link. Some vaccines can cause fever or aches that may be confused with

an arthritis flare-up, but these side effects go away on their own in a day or

two and do not worsen arthritis. Still, people with these conditions do have

some special considerations when it comes to vaccination.

Although RA and lupus do not prevent vaccines from working, the medications

used to treat them can. According to infectious diseases experts, people who are

taking high doses of corticosteroids or other disease-modifying drugs (such as

more than 20 mg a day of prednisone) are considered to be immunosuppressed. If

the immune system is suppressed, it is less able to produce antibodies in

response to vaccination. In order for vaccination to work, people with RA and

lupus should have their immunizations during times when their disease is well

controlled with only low-dose medication (or no drugs at all).

A final concern is that vaccines might be dangerous for people with autoimmune

disorders. Although most vaccines are safe for everyone, people who are

immunosuppressed should not get vaccines that are made with live viruses or

bacteria (see the inset box at right); a suppressed immune system could allow

the microbes to spread unchecked through the body. This includes attenuated

vaccines, in which the vaccine has been weakened but not killed.

Many vaccines are made with killed bacteria or viruses or else employ a

protein or a sugar extracted from a virus or bacterium.

These types of vaccines are safe for everyone.

Safest Vaccines (Protein or Sugar)

Diphtheria

Haemophilus influenza B (HIB)

Hepatitis B*

Meningococcus

Pertussis (whooping cough)

Pneumococcus

Tetanus

Safe Vaccines (Killed Bacterium or Virus)

Anthrax (not available to the general public)

Cholera

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B*

Influenza, injected

Plague

Polio

Rabies

Typhoid

Unsafe for Immunosuppressed People (Attenuated Live Virus)

Influenza, nasal spray (FluMist)+

Measles

Mumps

Rubella (German measles)

Most Unsafe for Immunosuppressed People (Live Bacterium)

BCG (tuberculosis)

Smallpox (not available to the general public)

Varicella (chickenpox)

Yellow fever

*Available in two forms: protein and killed virus.

+Not for use in people with RA or lupus.

Content last updated: 5/2/06

http://www.4woman.gov/faq/autoimmune.htm Auto Immune Diseases - Overview

What are autoimmune diseases?

Who is at risk for getting autoimmune diseases?

What are the most common symptoms of autoimmune diseases?

Are chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia autoimmune diseases?

What are flare ups?

Are there medicines to treat autoimmune diseases?

How can I manage my life now that I have an autoimmune disease?

What are some things I can do to feel better?

What kinds of doctors will I need to treat my autoimmune disease?

Link to a book on coping with Auto Immune disorders / disease called Living

Well With AutoImmune Disease. Recieved rave reviews.

http://www.thyroid-info.com/autoimmunebook.htm

Autoimmune Diseases Follow the link to find resources

relating to autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or

lupus), rheumatoid arthritis, insulin-dependent diabetes, 's disease and

multiple sclerosis (MS).

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Autoimmune_Diseases

(Beautiful Southern Oregon, USA)

We may not be able to change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our

sails.

May you have enough happiness to make you kind, enough trials to make you

strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.

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