Children's Health
Should Kids With Chronic Conditions Get H1N1 Shot?
By
Oct 29, 2009 - 4:29:29 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - COLUMBUS, Ohio - Because kids are one of the most vulnerable targets for the H1N1 virus, doctors are urging that all kids get vaccinated this fall. But should the millions of kids across the country already battling diseases like asthma, cancer and Crohn’s diseases also get in line for a shot?

Approximately five million kids take immunosuppressant drugs* for everything from asthma to AIDS and from cancer to Crohn’s. Specialists have been flooded with calls from parents and doctors alike, asking the same question: should kids on immunosuppressant drugs get the H1N1 vaccine? Dennis Cunningham, MD of Nationwide Children’s Hospital says yes, but with conditions.

“It’s important that these patients get the flu shot, the injection that goes right into the arm, rather than the flu mist,” he says. Because it is made from a live virus, kids on immunosuppressants, which weaken the immune system, should not take the flu mist.

“The flu mist is sprayed into the nose and it’s a live, but weakened, virus. Obviously, if your immune system is already down, we don’t want to give you any live virus vaccines,” says Dr. Cunningham.

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Experts say if a child is on immunosuppressants, they may not respond fully to the H1N1 vaccine, but some protection is better than none. Also, if a child is on more than one medication, parents should talk to their child’s doctor before pursuing the vaccine.

“When you start getting into kids taking two, three and four drugs, their chances of responding to the vaccine are lower,” says Dr. Cunningham.

Dr. Cunningham, who is also with Ohio State University, and his colleagues will soon launch a new government-funded study on responses to the vaccine among immunosuppressed children.

In the meantime, he says, not only should immunosuppressed kids get the shot, but their families should, too.

“The whole idea is called a ‘ring vaccination,’” Dr. Cunningham says. “By placing a group of people who have already been vaccinated around the vulnerable patient, it helps keep the virus away from the home and prevents it from infecting the patient.”

Of the millions who will go to the doctor for an H1N1 vaccine, this visit probably means more to 11-year-old Grant Powell of Dublin, Ohio and his mom, than it does to most.

Grant has Crohn’s disease, and the only way for him to control it is to take a powerful medicine that weakens his immune system. It may keep his Crohn’s in check, but it leaves him at a much greater risk for infection, especially as a hockey player sharing things like locker rooms, handshakes even water bottles with his teammates.

“This is the first time that we’ve gone into a flu season and he’s actually been taking immunosuppressants. So, I really don’t know what to expect,” says Grant’s mom Lisa Arledge Powell.

Grant and his mom will certainly take Dr. Cunningham’s advice to heart. As a hockey goalie, Grant is used to taking a lot of shots, but none more important than this one.

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