Vaccines for Patients with COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease characterized by chronic obstruction of lung airflow limitation. This disease is currently the fourth higher cause of death in the world, and it is predicted to be the third by the year 2020. Patients with COPD are frequently exposed to Human Rhinovirus, Respiratory Syncytial and Influenza Virus, as well as to Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. These infectious agents are responsible for exacerbations increasing morbidity and mortality in COPD patients. Prevention of infectious exacerbations by vaccination would improve quality of life and patient survival. A literature search: "vaccination of COPD patients" was performed using Medline, the Cochrane Library and other Non-Indexed Citations for this review. This article presents a brief overview of the different studies found, on the new patents, and the future strategies on the field.