Volume 7, Number 6—December 2001
Research
Advanced Age a Risk Factor for Illness Temporally Associated with Yellow Fever Vaccination
Table 1
Categories of vaccine adverse eventsa
| Neurologic (SyAE) |
| Guillain-Barré syndrome, new onset seizures, encephalitis, myelitis, altered mental status, focal cranial or peripheral neurologic deficits, paresthesias, vertigo, headaches (headaches alone are not sufficient for neurologic diagnosis)b |
| Onset <2 weeks after vaccination |
| Duration >72 hours |
| Multisystemic (SyAE) |
| Myalgias, arthralgias, rhabdomyolysis, elevated transaminases, respiratory distress, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, nephropathy, disseminated intravascular coagulation, +/-feverb |
| Onset <2 weeks after vaccination |
| Duration >72 hours |
| Neurologic/systemic, uncomplicated (OAE) |
| Cases that met the neurologic or systemic criteria but had a full and rapid clinical recovery in <72 hours |
| Nonspecific events without other focal finding (OAE) |
| Dizziness, headache |
| Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea alone |
| Hypersensitivity (OAE) |
| Rash, urticaria, +/- fever |
| Anaphylaxis, angioedema |
| Onset within 48 hours of vaccination |
| Local reaction (OAE) |
| Localized pain, swelling, erythema, or warmth (at injection site) |
| Onset within 1 week of vaccination |
| Unrelated to vaccine (excluded from AE analysis) |
| A clear, alternative diagnosis confirmed by laboratory criteria accounts for symptoms and signs; sometimes this is an underlying illness |
| Another cause implied or stated in the physician's report |
| For hepatitis A vaccine, onset of adverse event is >6 weeks |
aListed in order from most to least severe.
bExamples, but not limited to these signs, symptoms and conditions.
SyAE = systemic adverse event; OAE = other adverse events; AE = adverse event(s).
1Jeff Altman, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Vernon Ansdell, Kaiser Permanente, Honolulu, Hawaii; Elizabeth Barnett, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts; Michele Barry Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; Bradley Connor, Cornell University, New York, New York; David Freedman, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; Alejandra Gurtman, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York; Elaine Jong, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Phyllis Kozarsky, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Russell McMullen, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Jan Patterson, University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas; Bradley Sack, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Mary E. Wilson, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Martin Wolfe, Traveler's Medical Service of Washington, Washington, D.C.