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Feds want reports on swine flu vaccine, GBS

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SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF REPORT

Published: September 1, 2009

Updated:

While they are not expecting a lot of people who receive the vaccine against the H1N1 flu virus to come down with a potentially serious neurological disorder, federal health officials want to hear from any specialists who come across anyone with the post-immunization complication.

A few medical experts and consumer safety groups have expressed concern that people who are vaccinated against the swine flu virus this year will come down with Guillain-Barré syndrome. Some people who received the vaccine during an effort to prevent an outbreak of a form of swine flu in 1976 came down with the neurological disorder, known as GBS.

In the various forms of Guillain-Barré, the sufferer's immune system begins attacking the person's peripheral nervous system. There are usually effective means of treating GBS, but the disorder can prove fatal if it attacks the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary body functions such as breathing and heartbeat.

In a statement released Monday, the American Academy of Neurology says it is not expecting that "the 2009 H1N1 vaccine will have an increased risk of GBS."

Out of "an abundance of caution" sparked by the suspected link between Guillain-Barré and the 1976 swine flu vaccine, however, the AAN is asking neurologists to report occurrence of the disorder in any of their patients who have received the 2009 H1N1 vaccine to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration.

"The active participation of neurologists is going to be critical for monitoring for any possible increase in GBS following 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination," Dr. Orly Avitzur, who is leading the 21,000-member AAN's effort to monitor GBS, said in the statement. Avitzur, a practicing neurologist in Tarrytown, N.Y., was the first editor-in-chief of the AAN Web site.

The 2009 H1N1 vaccine is in production. Vaccination among high-risk groups, including infants, children, and young adults ages 6 months through 24 years, pregnant women, adults 25 and older with underlying health conditions, and health care workers, are slated to begin this fall and continue through the 2009-2010 flu season.

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