The Risk of Seizures after Receipt of Whole-Cell Pertussis or Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine

Abstract

There are significantly elevated risks of febrile seizures on the day of receipt of DTP vaccine and 8 to 14 days after the receipt of MMR vaccine, but these risks do not appear to be associated with any long-term, adverse consequences.

Measles-Mumps-Rubella-Varicella Combination Vaccine and the Risk of Febrile Seizures

“…Our findings contrast with those of other studies for which lower confirmation rates were reported when they identified seizures in emergency departments and outpatient settings. 3,18 We attribute our high confirmation rate to limiting case identification to the emergency department or inpatient setting. A recent VSD study similarly reported a high positive predictive value for seizures identified in emer- gency department and inpatient settings.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] Because we initially defined the 42-day surveillance period, we also examined seizure risk for days 0 to 42, as well as days 0 to 30, to permit comparison with the results of a recent study on MMRV vaccination and febrile seizures. 15 Using the electronic data, we used Poisson regression to compare seizure risk across the 4 different vaccine exposures during days 7 to 10, as well as 5 other risk windows (days 0 -4, 5-6, 11-12, 13-30, and 31-42).…”

“…[1][2][3][4] Although prelicensure studies of MMRV vaccine among 12-to 23-month-old children revealed higher rates of fever and measles-like rash 1 to 2 weeks later when compared with separate MMR and varicella vaccines, [5][6][7] it was unknown at the time of MMRV licensure whether the higher rate of fevers was similarly associated with increased risk for febrile seizures.…”

Parenteral immunization of mice with a genetically inactivated pertussis toxin DNA vaccine induces cell-mediated immunity and protection

“…Of particular concern has been the recent upward trend in the global incidence of pertussis with a sixfold increase in reported cases over the last two decades (Cherry et al, 2005;Tan et al, 2005). Although protection can be conferred by vaccination with whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccines or modern acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines, a concern with wP and to a lesser extent aP vaccines is their reactogenicity after multiple booster doses (Barlow et al, 2001). Systemic and local side effects, such as febrile seizures, swelling and redness around the site of injection, and encephalopathy, although rare, have been reported (Rennels et al, 2000;Gold et al, 2003;Rowe et al, 2005).…”

Decrease in Hospital Admissions for Febrile Seizures and Reports of Hypotonic-Hyporesponsive Episodes Presenting to Hospital Emergency Departments Since Switching to Acellular Pertussis Vaccine in Canada: A Report From IMPACT

“…9 -16 The relative risk of febrile seizures in children 6 to 14 days after the receipt of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has been estimated at 2 to 3 compared with nonimmunized children. 10,14,16,17 Collapse or "shock-like" states known as HHEs have also been recognized as a rare but important adverse event usually occurring within 24 hours of receipt of whole-cell pertussis vaccine. An excellent review of the topic was recently published.…”