Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis following measles vaccination.
A 19-month-old girl developed haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis following a measles vaccination. She developed persistent high fever 1 week after vaccination, and then showed pancytopenia, liver dysfunction and hepatosplenomegaly with marked haemophagocytosis. Based on the clinical and laboratory findings, she was diagnosed as having haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis probably due to measles vaccination. She did not respond fully to first-line immunosuppressive therapy and required immunochemotherapy with cytotoxic drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detailed report of haemophagocytic lymphohistiocyosis associated with measles vaccination documented in the English literature. Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocyosis should be kept in mind as one of the rare adverse effects of vaccination.
Otagiri
Tesshu
T
Department of Paediatrics, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-nishi, Yamagata, 990-9585, Japan.
Mitsui
Tetsuo
T
Kawakami
Takako
T
Katsuura
Michihiko
M
Maeda
Katsuko
K
Ikegami
Tohru
T
Sendo
Dai
D
Hayasaka
Kiyoshi
K
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005047:Etoposide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D015616:Histiocytosis, Non-Langerhans-Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008458:Measles Vaccine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019384:Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D008458:Measles Vaccine; D019384:Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors; D005047:Etoposide; D003907:Dexamethasone