Infliximab is safe to use in infants and young children with Kawasaki disease (KD) who have recently received live viral vaccinations, reported Aaron M. Lee, MS, and his associates at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.
The study included 38 children, aged either less than 18 months or 4-6 years, who received either a 5 mg/kg or a 10 mg/kg dose of infliximab within 90 days of receiving a live vaccination of MMR, varicella-zoster virus, or rotavirus. During a 90-day follow-up period, no serious infections requiring antimicrobial therapy or hospitalization were reported. A single patient who received an MMR/VZV vaccine 42 days before infliximab treatment developed urticaria 15 minutes after the infliximab transfusion began, which was resolved with hydroxyzine.
“The data presented here suggest that a single dose of infliximab can be safely administered to acute KD patients regardless of recent live virus vaccination,” the investigators concluded.
Find the full report in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (2017 Apr;36(4):435-7).