ANESTHESIA AND RECENTLY VACCINATED CHILDREN

Most countries have active vaccination programmes for children aged tw o months and older. It is likely that many children presenting for med ical procedures which require general anaesthesia have been vaccinated recently. Although there is no evidence suggesting increased risks as sociated with anaesthetizing recently vaccinated children there are ma ny theoretical reasons why this situation needs critical assessment an d review. After vaccination there is local swelling and pain at the si te of the injection and the most common side effects seen are fever, m alaise, headache, rash and myalgia which may last from one day to thre e weeks. Anaesthesia, stress and trauma are known to suppress the immu ne system. It is suggested that if possible, children should not be su bjected to anaesthesia for elective procedures within two to three wee ks after vaccination. Urgent procedures should be managed according to anaesthetic principles which will minimize the effect of anaesthesia on the physiological system affected by the immunization process at th e time. Paediatric anaesthesia risk management programmes should inclu de vaccination data to enable the risks of anaesthesia in recently vac cinated children to be analysed.