REVIEW - Autoimmune diseases and vaccinations

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Eur J Dermatol. 2004 Mar-Apr;14(2):86-90.

Autoimmune diseases and vaccinations.

Vial T, Descotes J.

Centre Antipoison et Centre Regional de Pharmacovigilance, 162, avenue

Lacassagne, 69424 Lyon, France. thierry.vial@...

The potential association between vaccination and autoimmune diseases

has been largely questioned in the past few years, but this assumption

has mostly been based on case reports. The available evidence derived

from several negative epidemiological studies is reassuring and at least

indicates that vaccines are not a major cause of autoimmune diseases.

However, there are still uncertainties as to whether a susceptible

subpopulation may be at a higher risk of developing an autoimmune

disease without causing an overall increase in the disease incidence.

Based on selected examples, this review highlights the difficulties in

assessing this issue. We suggest that a potential link between vaccines

and autoimmune diseases cannot be definitely ruled out and should be

carefully explored during the development of new candidate vaccines.

Copyright Libbey Eurotext 2003.

PMID: 15196997

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & dopt=Abstra\

ct & list_uids=15196997 & itool=iconabstr

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