Abstract
Objective: The influenza vaccine contains a trace amount of egg white, and it is considered that caution is required in inoculating into persons with egg allergy. Since there is no clear criterion of the advisability of inoculation, judgments vary widely among institutions and inoculating physicians, leading to confusion in patients as well. Therefore, a questionnaire survey was conducted in order to understand the current status of inoculations of influenza vaccine for children with egg allergy.
Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted with guardians of children who currently have, or have had in the past, egg allergy, and responses were obtained from 112 subjects.
Result: 52.7% of the children had had to forego inoculations with influenza vaccine in the past with egg allergy as the reason. Whereas in the group of age less than one year there were many cases in which inoculations were foregone by the judgments of guardians, in the group of age older than one year the most numerous response was that inoculation was denied by the inoculating physician for reasons such as that the physician "is not an allergist", regardless of the degree of removal and the degree of induced symptoms.
Conclusion: In order for children with egg allergy to be able to receive inoculations proactively, it is considered that studies on the safety, for providing the evidence, as well as a clear indication of the criterion of inoculation by such bodies as academic societies are necessary in Japan as well.
