Friday, 14 April 2017

Severe Side Effects of Vaccines in the Veterinary Setting



Since in the last 5 years, our research activity has involved veterinary Universities, Hospitals and Institutions and private animal clinics, together with human clinicians in comparative studies between human mankind and domestic or wild animals; the aim is to clarify some common physiopathology pathways, and to share diagnostics and therapeutic steps with animal cohorts having a shorter overall survival perspective compared with the human beings; in this way it is possible to accelerate the recognition of investigational drugs outcome. In the paper, we perform a retrospective study about vaccination toxicity in some animal species, mainly cats and dogs. Although there is no government obligation for veterinarians to report vaccine reactions, cumulative incidence of vaccination adverse events data between dogs and cats are reported to the vaccine manufacturer and/or to the Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics (CCVB) by the veterinarian or pet owner in Canada between 2010 and 2014 (Table 1). Table 1: Suspected adverse reactions for small animals (dogs, cats) vaccines reported to the Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics between 2010 and 2014.


The most common registered adverse reactions are allergic: 2663 cases per 10.000 vaccinated domestic animals. Indeed, Type III allergic reactions, including cutaneous vasculopathy and Arthus reactions (36 cases) occurred mainly at the rabies vaccination, could be correlated to a genetic predisposition. Transient symptoms, such as fever (570 cases), lethargy (3.396 cases), injection site swelling/tenderness (1833 cases), pain (200 cases), or anorexia (24 cases), prolonged up to 48 h, were observed in several cats and dogs [6-8]. Feline injection site sarcomas are rare (1 to 10 per 10.000 cats), but serious, since involve prolonged or repeated inflammatory processes in genetically predisposed individuals and can occur also in response to injected therapeutics including steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), non-absorbable sutures, and a microchip device. Neurological symptoms (e.g. head tremor/bobbing, encephalitis, head pressing, convulsion/seizure, rigidity, weakness, altered reflexes) have been reported in animals (1186 cases per 10.000 doses) that are showed an allergic reaction or pronounced inflammatory reaction (Cooper C and Naczynski Z, CFIA CCVB, 2015, personal communication). 


Type II immunemediated disorders such as immune-mediated thrombocytopenia and immune-mediated hemolytic anemia are very rare in small animals (62 cases per 10000 doses), but case control studies did not demonstrate a causal relationship between vaccine administration and autoimmune disorders. Protective and susceptible gene haplotypes have been identified in dogs, demonstrating genetic predisposition to type II hypersensitivities. As vaccines are designed to stimulate an immune response, it is not surprising that a predisposed individual may react to vaccination due to the production of inflammatory mediators. A retrospective study in nine veterinary hospitals in Sydney recorded, in 705 rabbits, 17 (1.8%) adverse reactions: 13 (76.5%) were local injection site reactions involving alopecia, abrasions and scabbing. Other reactions, including systemic signs of gastrointestinal tract stasis, lethargy and forelimb lameness, were also documented. A significant association between increasing age and decreased incidence of adverse events was demonstrated (p value: 0.038).



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