Vaccinations for the traveling adult solid organ transplant recipient (excluding hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients)

• Published in: Médecine et maladies infectieuses 2009-04, Vol.39 (4), p.225-233
• Main Authors: Wyplosz, B, Van der Vliet, D, Consigny, P H, Calmus, Y, Mamzer-Bruneel, M F, Guillemain, R, Malvy, D, Samuel, D, Vittecoq, D, Launay, O
• Format: Article
• Language: fre
• Subjects: Adult; Humans; Organ Transplantation; Travel; Vaccines
• ISSN: 0399-077X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.medmal.2008.11.006

Progress in transplantation technique has offered a growing number of solid organ transplant recipients the opportunity to travel to tropical and low-income countries. The issue of vaccine-preventable diseases is a challenging question in immunocompromised patients including those with solid organ transplant. Since the response to vaccines is weakened in case of chronic organ failure, candidates should be vaccinated early in the course of the disease. Clinicians should implement a vaccinal strategy until the patient is scheduled for transplantation and monitor its efficacy by serological assays. Live attenuated vaccines (such as yellow fever, measles-mumps-rubella, or chicken pox) are contra-indicated in solid organ transplant recipients and, when indicated, should be administered prior to transplantation, particularly in foreign-born patients highly likely to visit friends and relatives in endemic areas. Vaccinations for transplant recipients considering international travel should be realized according to the risk of acquiring vaccine-preventable diseases but also on both tolerance and immune response which are affected by degree and duration of immunosuppression, comorbidities, and type of organ transplanted. Routine and specific vaccinations for solid organ transplant recipients, as well as travel-related vaccination (such as hepatitis A, typhoid, meningococcal meningitis, rabies, tick-born encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis, and cholera) should be considered during a specific pretravel medical consultation. However, vaccination should be avoided in the 6 months following transplantation when patients are usually receiving the highest doses of immunosuppressive drugs. In this comprehensive review, we provide vaccination schedules based on published studies and guidelines for vaccination of solid organ transplant recipients.