Developmental factors associated with risk for atopic disease: implications for vaccine strategies in early childhood

Return to Vaccination News Home Page

Subscribe to the Vaccination NewsLetter

View past & current Scandals (columns by Sandy Mintz)

Developmental factors associated with risk for atopic disease: implications for vaccine strategies in early childhood

P. G. Holt^, ^,^a, J. Rowe^a, R. Loh^b and P. D. Sly^a

^a Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, and Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, P.O. Box 855, Perth, WA 6872, Australia
^b Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA 6872, Australia

Received 8 December 2002; accepted 25 March 2003. ; Available online 14 May 2003.

Abstract

There is growing interest in the potential interactions between infant vaccination and risk for development of atopic disease. The aspect of this issue which has dominated this debate concerns suggestions that infant vaccination may stimulate allergic sensitisation. These suggestions derive from retrospective epidemiological analyses and will remain speculative unless they can be confirmed in prospective studies, particularly as conflicting findings have been reported. However, there is a potentially more important issue surfacing in this debate, which entails the converse situation, i.e. that genetic risk for atopy influences capacity to respond to vaccination during infancy. Support for the latter possibility comes from recent studies on the role of developmental factors which determine immune competence during infancy, and attendant risk for inflammatory and infectious diseases. The relevant findings are reviewed briefly below.

Author Keywords: Atopic disease; Vaccination; Developmental factors

Note to users: The section "Articles in Press" contains peer reviewed and accepted articles to be published in this journal. When the final article is assigned to an issue of the journal, the "Article in Press" version will be removed from this section and will appear in the associated journal issue. Please be aware that "Articles in Press" do not have all bibliographic details available yet.
There are two types of "Articles in Press":

Your use of this service is governed by Terms and Conditions. Please review our Privacy Policy for details on how we protect information that you supply.

Return to Vaccination News Home Page

DISCLAIMER: All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider.

	This Document
		Abstract
		Full Text + Links
		PDF (74 K)

	Actions
		E-mail Article