How do we manage vaccinations in patients with inflammatory bowel disease?

The mortality in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been reported similar or slightly increased as compared to that of the general population. However, deaths related to infectious and parasitic diseases have been repeatedly reported in clinical trials, open series and registries. The IBD patients are exposed to the same infections affecting the community, added to opportunistic infectious related to the immunosuppression. Some of these infectious diseases may be prevented by the appropriate use of a vaccination program. Thus, vaccination status should be assessed at IBD diagnosis, and from time to time, and vaccination should be updated to every patient as soon as possible, since deaths due to preventable diseases should never occur. Present recommendations include vaccination for influenza (annually), for pneumococcal disease with the 23-valent strain (every 5 years), for hepatitis B virus (in patients with no detectable hepatitis B surface antibodies), combined vaccination against tetanus, diphtheria and inactivated poliomyelitis (every 10 years). The role of human papillomavirus vaccine preventing cervical dysplasia and neoplasia in IBD women taking immunosuppressive are at present unknown. In patients lacking varicella immunization, specific vaccination should be considered. Nevertheless, it should be taken into account that varicella vaccine contains live attenuated virus that cannot be administered in patients taking immunosuppressive. The same consideration should be kept in mind for patients travelling to endemic areas for yellow fever. Finally, IBD patients on immunosuppressive may have an altered response to vaccine immunization. Decreased response has been reported for hepatitis B and pneumoccocal vaccination. In those cases, testing for serological responses to vaccine should be performed and booster doses may be required.