Protective vaccines against communicable diseases are of major importance in patients with autoimmune diseases or impaired immune response. In patients with multiple sclerosis bacterial or viral infections may lead to disease progression and vaccines can protect from these infections and prevent disease progression. Fear of possible side effects of vaccines have led to a general restraint regarding vaccination of patients with MS. However, previous studies have not shown an increased risk of disease progression following Hepatitis B vaccination and even a reduced progression rate in relapsing-remitting MS after tetanus/diphtheria vaccination.
Various disease modifying treatments (DMT) are available for MS, most of these therapies lead to an impairment of the immune system affecting the immune response to vaccination. Additionally, live attenuated vaccines may lead to severe side-effects if used in patients under DMT treatment. Testing immune response after vaccination may be prudent in subjects undergoing DMT to assure vaccination success since only a limited number of studies have investigated immune response after vaccination in patients with MS undergoing DMT.
