Influenza vaccination of the egg-allergic individual

Mullins, Raymond J; Kemp, Andrew; Gold, Michael

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03900.x

Topics

Recent reviews suggest a low risk of allergic reactions to egg-cultured influenza virus vaccines

Australian influenza notification and hospitalisation rates are highest in children aged under 5 years,1 the group most commonly affected by egg allergy. While vaccines derived from influenza virus grown in mammalian cell cultures exist, those currently distributed in Australia and New Zealand are grown in hen eggs. The ability to safely vaccinate egg-allergic individuals (particularly in the context of epidemic influenza) will remain an important public health issue, well after concerns surrounding recent non-allergic adverse reactions in young children subside (Australian governments recently suspended seasonal flu vaccination for healthy children aged under 5 years; see http://www.immunise.health.gov.au).

1 University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT.
2 Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC.
3 Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: rmullins@allergycapital.com.au

Competing interests:

Raymond Mullins has received investigator-initiated, unrestricted research grants from CSL Ltd for purchase of research data for unrelated research. Andrew Kemp has received consultancy and travel expense payments from CSL Ltd.

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