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We report a case of acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (AE-IPF) after pandemic influenza (H1N1) vaccination. A 57-year-old man, who had been diagnosed with IPF in September 2008, was admitted to our hospital in December 2009 because of aggravation of dyspnea and fever two days after H1N1 vaccination. Chest computed tomography showed diffuse bilateral ground-glass opacities superimposed on preceding reticular opacities. We diagnosed AE-IPF. Corticosteroid and cyclophosphamide were effective. Although the efficacy of influenza vaccination in patients with chronic lung diseases is well established, physicians should keep in mind that influenza vaccination has the potential to cause AE-IPF.

We report an infant case of acute fulminant myocarditis which occurred after administration of a diphtheria, polio, and tetanus vaccination. Fever and dyspnea developed after the vaccination. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was used for intractable cardiogenic shock. The patient survived the extracorporeal support, but poor ventricular contractility recurred 2 months later and she died while waiting for heart transplantation.

A case of acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura following oral polio vaccine (OPV) is reported. An 82-d-old infant developed purpura at the same day after the second dose of oral polio vaccine. Until the time of hospital admission, the male infant had been in good health and had not received any drugs, and the possible causes of this condition were excluded. His platelet count was 13× 10 ( 9) /L. Platelet-associated IgG was elevated, but the amount of megakaryocytes in bone marrow aspirates was within the normal range, suggesting immune mechanism-associated thrombocytopenia. The infant recovered with the proper treatment within 30 d. Attention should be paid to OPV-associatedthrombocytopenia, though it seems to be less frequent than after natural infections.

Flu vaccinations are administered worldwide every winter for prevention. We herein describe a case of acute lung injury resulting from a pathologically confirmed alveolar hemorrhage, which may have been closely related to a preceding vaccination for pandemic influenza A of 2009/10. The present patient had been hospitalized with an acute lung injury after flu vaccination one year prior to the present hospitalization, however, he received another flu vaccination. We should consider a vaccine-related adverse reaction as a potential cause of pulmonary disease if patients present with this illness during the winter season.

The authors report the case of a 26 year old woman with acute anterior poliomyelitis contracted during the vaccination of her baby. Despite having been herself vaccinated in infancy she was not protected against the poliovirus. The clinical interest of this uncommon case is a severe paralytic state with definitive paraplegia. The authors suggest serologic testing of patients born before 1967 especially if they are at risk of encountering the virus.

We report a case of postvaccination acute myopericarditis in an adolescent. The patient presented with acute chest pain, diffuse ST-segment elevation, and elevated cardiac enzyme levels. Cardiac MRI was consistent with acute myocarditis. He recovered within a few days with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory treatment and remains clinically stable, with improvement of MRI findings at the 10-week follow-up. Postvaccination cases of myopericarditis reported in the pediatric literature are also reviewed.

OBJECTIVE: To report two cases of acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy after immunization with a recombinant hepatitis B virus vaccine.

DESIGN: Case reports.

RESULTS: Two patients had development of visual loss 3 days to 2 weeks after the booster administration of 20 micrograms of recombinant hepatitis B virus surface antigen (Engerix-B). In both cases, fundus examination, fluorescein angiograms, and the course of the disease were typical of acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy. In case 1, 1 week after immunization, the leukocyte count was 10.3 X 10(9)/L with 24% polynuclear eosinophils (2.47 X 10(9)/L); in case 2, blood cell counts were normal.

CONCLUSION: Hepatitis B virus immunization may be a risk factor for acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy. Molecular mimicry between a retinal pigment epithelium protein and hepatitis B surface antigen could play a role. These cases suggest an immune-mediated retinal pigment epithelium disruption or choroidal vascular occlusions triggered by hepatitis B surface antigen.

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PURPOSE:To report a case of Zostavax-associated acute retinal necrosis in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

METHODS:Case report.

PATIENTS:A 76-year-old white man.

RESULTS:Unilateral acute retinal necrosis with obliterative angiopathy developed in close proximity of a Zostavax vaccine. Treatment with valacyclovir hydrochloride (1 g orally three times a day) and intravitreal ganciclovir (4 mg/0.1 mL) was initiated on presentation. Because of continuous increase of the retinal necrosis, patient was switched to intravenous acyclovir (7.5 mg/kg body weight, adapted to reduced glomerular filtration rate) and given intravitreal foscarnet (2.4 mg/0.1 mL). Despite being on maximal antiviral therapy, the patient suffered a central retinal artery occlusion.

DISCUSSION:Acute retinal necrosis is a severe complication and potentially blinding disease of herpes zoster, and can occur in association with herpes zoster immunization, in particular, in immune suppressed patients.

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We report the case of a 68-year-old woman with acute thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) that developed after pneumococcal vaccination. She was found in a confusional state with high fever 15 days after vaccination. Laboratory data showed hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, and blood smear showed fragmented erythrocytes. TTP was diagnosed based on the clinical presentation, and was subsequently confirmed by the absence of ADAMTS13 activity and the presence of inhibitor against ADAMTS13 in serum. She was successfully treated using plasma exchange and corticosteroids, and no recurrence has been identified. This appears to represent the first report of TTP following pneumococcal vaccination.

Descriptions in the literature of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in post-vaccination myelitis are scarce. Described here is a case of acute transverse myelitis that occurred after administration of an influenza vaccination. T1-weighted MRIs showed diffuse, fusiform spinal cord enlargement, extending from C-3 to rostral thoracic levels. Intramedullary lesions containing increased T2 signal were found in the areas of cord enlargement. The involvement on MRI was profound, extending far rostral to the level of the discrete clinical myelopathy. The lesions did not enhance after contrast administration. The patient had a complete long-term recovery of neurological function. This represents the first report of MRI findings in acute transverse myelitis after influenza vaccination.

H1N1 vaccination is currently safe, and only rare acceptable side-effects have been reported. Here we describe for the first time a serious adverse event, i.e., acute transverse myelitis, following H1N1 vaccination in China. After the standard treatment with methylprednislone, the patient recovered completely.

INTRODUCTION:Acute transverse myelitis is an inflammatory disorder. The pathogenesis is unclear, but the probable mechanism involves an autoimmune phenomenon. Possible causes included multiple sclerosis and parainfectious and postvaccinal events. Myelitis has rarely been reported secondary to vaccinations including hepatitis B. We present a case of acute myelitis, which seems secondary to the administration of the hepatitis B vaccine.

CLINICAL CASE:A 15-years-old female presented with progressive numbness of the right arm and leg, with right leg weakness. Symptom began one week after receiving the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Spinal cord magnetic resonance (MR) revealed a diffuse increased signal extending from C6 to D2. Cerebral MR and cerebrospinal fluid were normal. She was treated with high doses of methylprednisolone with a complete recovery of neurological functional. Repeat medullar cord MR was normal. There was no relapse during a four years follow up.

CONCLUSIONS:Potential causal relationship between vaccination against hepatitis B and multiple sclerosis was brought to the attention and to public debate. However, no conclusive association could be made between vaccination and demyelination. In the clinical setting, the distinction between a first episode of multiple sclerosis or postvaccinal myelitis depends upon subsequent course.

Three young women who developed premature ovarian insufficiency following quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination presented to a general practitioner in rural New South Wales, Australia. The unrelated girls were aged 16, 16, and 18 years at diagnosis. Each had received HPV vaccinations prior to the onset of ovarian decline. Vaccinations had been administered in different regions of the state of New South Wales and the 3 girls lived in different towns in that state. Each had been prescribed the oral contraceptive pill to treat menstrual cycle abnormalities prior to investigation and diagnosis. Vaccine research does not present an ovary histology report of tested rats but does present a testicular histology report. Enduring ovarian capacity and duration of function following vaccination is unresearched in preclinical studies, clinical and postlicensure studies. Postmarketing surveillance does not accurately represent diagnoses in adverse event notifications and can neither represent unnotified cases nor compare incident statistics with vaccine course administration rates. The potential significance of a case series of adolescents with idiopathic premature ovarian insufficiency following HPV vaccination presenting to a general practice warrants further research. Preservation of reproductive health is a primary concern in the recipient target group. Since this group includes all prepubertal and pubertal young women, demonstration of ongoing, uncompromised safety for the ovary is urgently required. This matter needs to be resolved for the purposes of population health and public vaccine confidence.

OBJECTIVE:To characterize adverse events (AEs) after Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines reported to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a spontaneous reporting surveillance system.

STUDY DESIGN:We searched VAERS for US reports after Hib vaccines among reports received from January 1, 1990, to December 1, 2013. We reviewed a random sample of reports and accompanying medical records for reports classified as serious. All reports of death were reviewed. Physicians assigned a primary clinical category to each reviewed report. We used empirical Bayesian data mining to identify AEs that were disproportionally reported after Hib vaccines.

RESULTS:VAERS received 29,747 reports after Hib vaccines; 5179 (17%) were serious, including 896 reports of deaths. Median age was 6 months (range 0-1022 months). Sudden infant death syndrome was the stated cause of death in 384 (51%) of 749 death reports with autopsy/death certificate records. The most common nondeath serious AE categories were neurologic (80; 37%), other noninfectious (46; 22%) (comprising mainly constitutional signs and symptoms); and gastrointestinal (39; 18%) conditions. No new safety concerns were identified after clinical review of reports of AEs that exceeded the data mining statistical threshold.

CONCLUSION:Review of VAERS reports did not identify any new or unexpected safety concerns for Hib vaccines.

Allergic alveolitis as a side effect of vaccination is very rare. We report a life-threatening complication in a female patient after influenza vaccination. The causative antigen was the influenza virus itself. Our Patient has suffered from exogen-allergic alveolitis for 12 years. Because of the guidelines of regular administration of influenza vaccination in patients with chronic pulmonary disease further research in patients with known exogen-allergic alveolitis is vitally important for the pharmaceutical drug safety.

We report 3 patients with persistent symptoms at vaccination sites. All were allergic to aluminium and one to thiomersal and neomycin too. Aluminium allergy causes false positive patch test reactions and we propose methods of patch testing patients with symptoms at vaccination sites in order to avoid this problem. The practical relevance of allergy to non-toxoid constituents of vaccines is discussed.

No abstract available.