Journal
BRITISH JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY
Volume 171, Issue 5, Pages 683-694Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/bjh.13660
Keywords
asplenia; vaccine; immunocompromised; sickle cell disease; splenectomy
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The spleen acts as a blood filter and lymphopoietic organ. Asplenic and hyposplenic individuals are more susceptible to serious infections caused by encapsulated bacteria but they can be protected by antibiotic prophylaxis and immunizations. Recent progress in vaccinology means prophylaxis is now successful in the vast majority of serious infections with pneumococci, meningococci and Haemophilus influenzae type b responsible for the majority of cases of overwhelming sepsis in asplenic patients. Current guidelines are coherent. Physicians treating patients with conditions associated with hyposplenism are ethically obliged to immunize their patients using the vaccines currently available to protect them from largely preventable, life-threatening infections.
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