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December 09, 2002
INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Stress May Affect Effectiveness of Vaccines"
Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com) (12/09/02) P. 2; Lauge, Dianne Partie
British scientists report in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine that reactions to the meningitis vaccine differ, based on the psychological well-being of the patients. Victoria E. Burns and colleagues of the University of Birmingham found that students who tested higher for perceived anxiety in their lives stood a greater risk of having a poorer immune response to the vaccine. "The results showed that the effects of stress are generalizable to different types of vaccine and, therefore, may be widespread," Burns noted.
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