Research News: New collaborative HHT-WG publication on prevention of serious infections in HHT

A new collaborative publication entitled Prevention of serious infections in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: roles for prophylactic antibiotics, the pulmonary capillaries- but not vaccination has just been published in the scientific journal Haematologica. It is co-authored by Prof. Claire Shovlin (HHT-WG Chair), Dr. Kathleen Bamford, Prof. Carlo Sabbà, Dr. Hans-Jurgen Mager, Prof. Anette Kjeldsen, Dr. Freya Droege, Prof. Elisabetta Buscarini (HHT-WG Deputy Co-Chair) and Dr. Sophie Dupuis-Girod (HHT-WG Co-Chair), on behalf of the VASCERN HHT-WG.

It is a comment from the HHT-WG in response to a recent publication by Rodríguez-García et al. that suggested that the prevention of severe infections in HHT patients should be done by receiving Haemophilus influenzae, streptococcus pneumonia, and influenza vaccinations.

The HHT-WG believes that patients with HHT should follow the same vaccination strategies as the general public and “there is no current evidence that patients with HHT are more prone to pneumoccal, hemophilus or influenza infections, or would benefit from any different approach to vaccination than the general population. Furthermore, we are concerned that a focus on these pathogens risks missing the relevant necessary foci that require a different approach- transient bacteremias, prophylactic antibiotics, and pulmonary capillary clearance functions.”

Read the full article here

Reference:

Prevention of serious infections in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: roles for prophylactic antibiotics, the pulmonary capillaries-but not vaccination. Shovlin C, Bamford K, Sabbà C, Mager HJ, Kjeldsen A, Droege F, Buscarini E, Dupuis-Girod S; VASCERN HHT. Haematologica. 2019 Feb;104(2):e85-e86. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2018.209791. No abstract available. PMID: 30705116