Measles-Rubella-Mumps vaccination in cases with egg allergy: Is skin prick test necessary? Can vaccination be done safely?

Abstract

Objective: Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine which contains egg protein is considered as a potential allergen in children with egg allergy and although administration of the vaccine without any evaluation in egg allergic patients is suggested, due to the presence of reported cases of anaphylaxis during vaccination in the literature this issue causes distress to both families and doctors. In this study the frequency of reactions observed after MMR vaccination and the necessity of skin prick test in the patients followed up with egg allergy in our clinic were evaluated. Methods: In our study, 82 patients followed up with the diagnosis of egg allergy diagnosis and administered MMR vaccine between September 2013 and May 2015 were included in retrospective cross-sectional study. Results: The average age was 8.34 +/- 7.1 months, and 37.8% (n=31) of the cases were female. According to their diagnostic distribution, the patients had atopic dermatitis (n=56; 68.3%) had, urticaria/angioedema (n=7; 8.5%), reactive airway disease (n=15; 18.3%), and anaphylaxis (n=9; 4.9%). Skin prick test was administered to 17 (21%) patients before MMR vaccination. A whole dose of vaccine was administered to all cases except in two cases with the diagnosis of anaphylaxis. There was no reaction observed after MMR vaccination in any of the cases. Conclusion: Any reaction was not observed in any of egg allergy cases after MMR vaccination. Since we didn't observe any reaction in these patients different from that seen in other healthy children, we think that there is no containdication for administering MMR vaccines at the centers in which the other vaccines were done, without any need to administer MMR vaccine with prick test or in divided doses.