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pneumococcal re-vaccination test


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Hi all,

I've been reading some threads about vaccines, as well as many reposnes to my call for help on insurance. I have a question. ds "fails" on his strep. pneumoniae IGG AB 14 serotype test.

 

He is only above 2.0 for one of the fourteen serotypes. Nine of them were below 0.3. and if you read the page long description of the test it appears that anything below 2.0 means you body is not protecting you from the disease (as it should since ds was vaccinated). However, in order to prove that is the case, immunologist wants to do pneumococcal re-vacination (prevnar?) I've been told that if he fails the test and body does not mount response, he would qualify for insurance for ivig.

 

There is NO WAY i'm injecting him with what might have caused this. Is this test involving a vaccine considered safe for our kids? Sorry if some of you have alread seen this, I tried to search forum but so many things came up would take all day to find specific answer.

 

Have some of you done this test (or rejected it?) Or at least know more than I do on the subject?

 

Buster(and other scientists) - should there be a Q&A or FAQ update that includes vaccines and tests that are counter indicated for pandas kids? I'm thinking the NIMH isn't going to be issuing anything like that soon!

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My daughter did the vaccine challenge in, I think, 2006, with the pneumovax, not prevnar. The 1st vaccine did not show an adequate response. We did it again, and the second time there was an adequate response...but, 2 1/2 years later the titers were low again and I refused to revaccinate. I don't think my daughter suffered any adverse effects from the vaccine (other than the immunologist claiming that this fixed everything and not getting any immune treatment)We are now getting IVIG treatments through this same immunologist, due to our pediatrician advocating for us. There is a member here who is related to a bunch of imunologists who can tell you more (nevergiveup? I can't remember.) But, that is our experience.

Edited by peglem
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Hi -

 

My son was in a similar situation (though not quite as severe as your son's). My son had mildly low Igg and was below protective levels in 10 out of 14 titers - despite two pneumovax (not prevnar) injections before the age of 5. I posted and asked about this and these are the replies I received

 

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7424&pid=60454&start=&st=#entry60454

 

Nevergiveup was pretty specific and I followed her advice - got an appointment with Dr.B and have not regretted it. Dr. B does NOT recommend that we revaccinate... he did more tests, found elevated C3Ds, and a serious infected cyst in my son's sinus.

 

Hope this link is helpful!

Edited by kimballot
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Thanks for forwarding that thread. I am lucky I had been reading this board when I went to the immunologist a couple months ago and we decided to run these tests. If not, I would have just followed his advice and got the re-vacination, but becasue of something I read about vaccines and pandas kids here, I had decided to move on to another doctor.

 

Honestly, I didn't think much of the low numbers on the serotype test. The doctor almost expected them to come back low and prepped me that the next test(if low) would be with a vaccine. It seems pretty common that these are low? I'm gonna google that tonight.

 

How do we go about warning people (and doctors!) - maybe the diagnostic flow chart should have some warning, bcs it seems like alot of our kids fail serotype tests, and the immunologists' next step is to the prevnar (or other) re-vax. test. As a matter of fact - I gave him copy of the flow chart and the cunningham study report because he was interested in it. (not enough to become all that knowledgeable, but mildly).

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My son was also at <0.3 for 9 of the 14 serotypes (and at 0.4, 1.2, 3.2, 6.0 and 27.3 for the others).

 

This seems to be a trend.

 

But...if the prevnar didn't contain all of these "strains", wouldn't we expect the kids to be low for the ones that weren't included in the vaccine? The notes that came with the test suggested that kids older than 5 should respond to at least 70% of the serotypes (which would be 9.8 out of 14).

 

 

 

Thanks for forwarding that thread. I am lucky I had been reading this board when I went to the immunologist a couple months ago and we decided to run these tests. If not, I would have just followed his advice and got the re-vacination, but becasue of something I read about vaccines and pandas kids here, I had decided to move on to another doctor.

 

Honestly, I didn't think much of the low numbers on the serotype test. The doctor almost expected them to come back low and prepped me that the next test(if low) would be with a vaccine. It seems pretty common that these are low? I'm gonna google that tonight.

 

How do we go about warning people (and doctors!) - maybe the diagnostic flow chart should have some warning, bcs it seems like alot of our kids fail serotype tests, and the immunologists' next step is to the prevnar (or other) re-vax. test. As a matter of fact - I gave him copy of the flow chart and the cunningham study report because he was interested in it. (not enough to become all that knowledgeable, but mildly).

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This information may be helpful. http://www.arupconsult.com/Topics/Streptpneumoniae.html

 

My son is older, so he received the pneumovax (before they came out with prevnar). According to this information

Prevnar contain 7 serotypes - so kids who have had prevnar should be fully protected to those 7 if they are mounting a response.

 

Also, kids who did not receive prevnar or pneumovax should be protected to serotypes they have come in contact with before - true?? I am assuming that my 15 year old daughter who never had a pnuemovax and has only had 1 sinus infection should have antibodies to most of the serotypes... since the serotypes are found in most kids at some point in time. I am assuming her body mounted an appropriate response to tha actual antigen. Perhaps I am incorrect in my thinking... but this is what I thought was happening.

 

If someone could help me out here I would really appreciate it.

 

Thanks!

 

My son was also at <0.3 for 9 of the 14 serotypes (and at 0.4, 1.2, 3.2, 6.0 and 27.3 for the others).

 

This seems to be a trend.

 

But...if the prevnar didn't contain all of these "strains", wouldn't we expect the kids to be low for the ones that weren't included in the vaccine? The notes that came with the test suggested that kids older than 5 should respond to at least 70% of the serotypes (which would be 9.8 out of 14).

 

 

 

Thanks for forwarding that thread. I am lucky I had been reading this board when I went to the immunologist a couple months ago and we decided to run these tests. If not, I would have just followed his advice and got the re-vacination, but becasue of something I read about vaccines and pandas kids here, I had decided to move on to another doctor.

 

Honestly, I didn't think much of the low numbers on the serotype test. The doctor almost expected them to come back low and prepped me that the next test(if low) would be with a vaccine. It seems pretty common that these are low? I'm gonna google that tonight.

 

How do we go about warning people (and doctors!) - maybe the diagnostic flow chart should have some warning, bcs it seems like alot of our kids fail serotype tests, and the immunologists' next step is to the prevnar (or other) re-vax. test. As a matter of fact - I gave him copy of the flow chart and the cunningham study report because he was interested in it. (not enough to become all that knowledgeable, but mildly).

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