Post Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Vaccination Narcolepsy with Cataplexy
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Hildegard Hidalgo1, Ulf Kallweit1,2, Johannes Mathis2
1Neurocenter Rhine-Lahn, Clinic Katzenelnbogen, Katzenelnbogen, Germany.
Study Objectives:
Narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC) is a chronic neurological disorder thought to result from an altered immune response based on a genetic predisposition coupled with environmental factors. Pandemrix vaccination has been reported to increase the risk of narcolepsy. We aimed at identifying other vaccines associated with the onset of narcolepsy.
Methods:
Case series and retrospective database study.
Results:
We identified four cases of NC following a tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) vaccination with FSME Immun. Additional four cases could be detected in the database of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines in Germany.
Conclusions:
Our findings implicate TBE vaccination as a potential additional environmental factor for the development of NC and add additional evidence for an immunological mechanism in the pathogenesis of the disease.
