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Lack of association between childhood immunizations and encephalitis in California, 1998-2008

Barbara A Pahud1, Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Carol Glaser

  • 1Stanford University, School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5208, USA. bapahud@cmh.edu

Vaccine
|November 15, 2011
PubMed

Insights

This study found no increased risk of encephalitis following childhood immunizations. Current vaccine schedules are safe and do not raise the likelihood of developing encephalitis in children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric neurology
  • Immunology
  • Vaccine safety

Background:

  • New and combination vaccines have been introduced for children.
  • Encephalitis following pertussis or measles vaccines is compensable.
  • Parental concerns exist regarding vaccine safety and neurologic adverse events.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if immunizations are associated with an increased risk of encephalitis within defined risk windows.
  • To address parental concerns about vaccine safety and neurologic adverse events.

Main Methods:

  • Reviewed immunization records from 246 pediatric encephalitis cases.
  • Included 110 cases immunized within one year prior to encephalitis onset.
  • Used case-centered method to analyze risk windows (42, 30, 21 days post-vaccination).

Main Results:

  • No increased risk of encephalitis observed after pertussis-containing vaccines.
  • No increased risk of encephalitis observed after measles-containing vaccines.
  • No increased risk of encephalitis observed after multiple vaccines in a single visit.

Conclusions:

  • No association found between currently recommended immunizations and subsequent encephalitis.
  • This study supports the safety of childhood vaccination schedules regarding encephalitis risk.
Abstract

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