Meningococcal Vaccine Linked to More Cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome
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www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529322
Medscape
REUTERS
April 7, 2006
Meningococcal Vaccine Linked to More Cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 06 - Three additional cases of Guillain-Barre
syndrome (GBS) have been reported after receipt of the Menactra
meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4), bringing the total number of cases
to eight, according to findings released Thursday in the Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report.
Despite the increase in GBS cases, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention continues to recommend MCV4 for persons at high-risk for
meningococcal disease, such as first-year college students living in
dormitories, military recruits, and travelers to regions where such disease
is epidemic or hyperendemic.
The possible association between the vaccine and GBS first surfaced in
October 2005. At that time, five confirmed cases of the neurologic disorder
had been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. In the
present report, researchers from the CDC describe in detail two of the three
cases that arose between October 2005 and February 2006.
The first case involved a 19-year-old male who began experiencing distal
extremity numbness and weakness, difficulty running, and decreased dexterity
25 days after receiving MCV4. Electrophysiologic test results were
consistent with GBS and other possible causes of the neurologic symptoms
were ruled out. He was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin and had made
a full recovery 8 weeks after disease onset.
The second case, which involved a 17-year-old male, was similar to the
first, but disease onset occurred just 11 days after MCV4 receipt. Treatment
with intravenous immunoglobulin resulted in a complete recovery 2 weeks
after hospital admission.
Still, when the eight cases of MCV4-related GBS were compared against the
expected rates of GBS in same age group populations, no significantly
elevated risk was seen, suggesting that the association may have been due to
chance alone.
The "CDC continues to recommend that healthcare workers and any other
persons aware of adverse events associated with MCV4 or any other
vaccination report to VAERS cases of GBS or any other clinically significant
adverse events," the report states.
Mor Mortal Wkly Rep CDC Surveill Summ 2006;55:364-366.
