Increased risk for invasive pneumococcal diseases in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Asplenia and other conditions of immunodeficiency are established risk factors for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). There are no current data available on the risk of IPD in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common type of childhood malignancy. This study combined data from a nation-wide surveillance for IPD and the German childhood cancer registry, and showed that children with ALL carry a more than 10-fold higher risk for IPD than the general paediatric population. As a substantial proportion of IPD occurs during maintenance chemotherapy, children with ALL may represent candidates for the evaluation of prophylactic interventions including vaccination.
Meisel
Roland
R
Clinic for Paediatric Oncology, Haematology and Clinical Immunology, University Clinic of Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. meisel@med.uni-duesseldorf.de
Toschke
André Michael
AM
Heiligensetzer
Cora
C
Dilloo
Dagmar
D
Laws
Hans-Jürgen
HJ
von Kries
Rüdiger
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D016470:Bacteremia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D012306:Risk; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae; D014611:Vaccination