Unexpected loss of contact allergy to aluminium induced by vaccine

• BACKGROUND:In studies in Gothenburg, Sweden, in the 1990s of an aluminium hydroxide-adsorbed pertussis toxoid vaccine, 745 of ~76 000 vaccinated children developed long-lasting itchy subcutaneous nodules at the vaccination site. Of 495 children with itchy nodules patch tested for aluminium allergy, 376 (76%) were positive.OBJECTIVES:To study the prognosis of the vaccine-induced aluminium allergy.PATIENTS AND METHODS:Two hundred and forty-one children with demonstrated aluminium allergy in the previous study were patch tested again 5-9 years after the initial test, with the same procedure as used previously.RESULTS:Contact allergy to aluminium was no longer demonstrable in 186 of the retested 241 children (77%). A negative test result was more common in children who no longer had itching at the vaccination site; it was also related to the age of the child, the time after the first aluminium-adsorbed vaccine dose, and the strength of the reaction in the first test.CONCLUSIONS:Patch test reactivity to aluminium seems to disappear or weaken with time.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Dermatologi och venereologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Dermatology and Venereal Diseases (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

aluminium; contact allergy; itchy nodules; patch test; vaccines

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)