Vaccinations

Pneumococcal vaccine

Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by a bacterium that usually lives harmlessly at the back of many people’s throats. However, it can invade other parts of the body and cause serious, possibly life-threatening illnesses including pneumonia, septicaemia or meningitis.

The Department of Health recommends a vaccination for pneumococcal disease for:

• infants
• people aged 65 and over
• people aged between 2 and 65 years of age who are at higher risk from pneumococcal disease, including individuals with a damaged or absent spleen
• children and adults with certain long term health conditions such as serious heart, liver and kidney conditions and diabetes.

Some people with coeliac diseaseA condition where a person is unable to eat gluten as it makes their body attack itself. are ‘hyposplenic’, that is, they have a spleen which does not function very well. This potentially puts them at risk of pneumococcal infections and those people who are known to be hyposplenic should receive the pneumococcal vaccine and also vaccines to meningitis C and influenza. However, the Department of Health has not made a universal recommendation to everyone with coeliac disease, but rather recommends that clinical assessments are made on an individual basis.

Based on advice from our Health Advisory Committee, Coeliac UK recommends that everyone with coeliac disease is vaccinated against pneumococcal infection. This is based upon the potential for people with coeliac disease to develop overwhelming pneumococcal sepsis due to hyposplenism. Since 2006, all infants receive vaccination against pneumococcal infection as part of the routine childhood immunisation programme. Therefore, at the moment this recommendation will require a one-off vaccination for children and adults born before 2006.

Seasonal Flu

If you have coeliac disease, vaccination against seasonal flu needs to be considered on an individual basis.  If you are concerned about this issue, your GPGeneral Practitioner, or local doctor is best placed to discuss this with you.

It is also recommended that pregnant women are offered the seasonal flu vaccination.

If you are concerned about vaccinations, Coeliac UK advise that you speak to your GP.  You can also find more information on the NHS Choices website

Swine Flu

There is no evidence that people with coeliac disease will be at any greater risk of getting swine flu than the general population.

Symptoms of swine flu appear to be similar to those that occur with seasonal flu.  These include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue.  If you develop symptoms of flu you should check your symptoms online.

Tamiflu is a drug that can be used to treat flu, and it is sometimes used to reduce the chance of getting flu. As with immunisation against seasonal flu, the use of Tamiflu needs to be considered on an individual basis, taking into account any additional health problems.  As with all UK prescription medications, Tamiflu is gluten-freeWhen a food has less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten so it is safe for people with coeliac disease to eat. .

More information about swine flu can be found on the NHS website.