Open Access, Peer-reviewed
pISSN 2384-1079
eISSN 2384-1087
    Pediatr Infect Vaccine. 2017 Dec;24(3):160-167. Korean.
    Published online Dec 21, 2017.
    https://doi.org/10.14776/piv.2017.24.3.160
    Copyright © 2017 The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
    Original Article

    A Retrospective Study of Invasive Bacterial Infections in Children with Asplenia

    Yong-Joon Choe, Euri Seo and Jina Lee
      • Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, the Republic of Korea.
    • Corresponding author (Email: entier@amc.seoul.kr )
    Received September 14, 2017; Revised September 25, 2017; Accepted September 26, 2017.

    Abstract

    Purpose

    Because children with asplenia have an increased risk of fulminant infection associated with a high fatality, chemoprophylaxis, and vaccinations against encapsulated bacteria are recommended. However, there have been few reports of the burden of severe bacterial infection and the current status of chemoprophylaxis and immunization among children with asplenia in Korea.

    Methods

    We conducted a retrospective study including children with asplenia who were treated at our institute between January 1997 and December 2016.

    Results

    From a total of 213 children with asplenia, 114 (53.5%) had congenital asplenia and 58 (27.2%) had functional asplenia. The remaining 41 (19.3%) had acquired asplenia with the median age at splenectomy being 12.2 years (range, 5.0 to 16.9 years); the most common cause of splenectomy was hereditary spherocytosis (39.0%). The chemoprophylaxis rate was 16.4%. The immunization rates were 44.1% for pneumococcus, 53.0% for Haemophilus influenzae type B, and 10.7% for meningococcus. The incidence of invasive bacterial infection among children with asplenia was 0.28/100 person-year; a total of six episodes (2.8%) were observed in five patients with congenital asplenia and one patient with functional asplenia. The median age for these infections was 15 months (range, 4 to 68 months). Five of the six episodes were bacteremia, and the other was meningitis. The most common pathogen was Streptococcus pneumoniae (n=3), followed by H.influenzae (n=1). Three of the six patients (50.0%) died, all of whom had pneumococcal bacteremia. None of the six had chemoprophylaxis or proper vaccinations.

    Conclusions

    Although there is an increased risk of a severe infection proper vaccinations and chemoprophylaxis are still lacking. Physicians should be encouraged to implement appropriate chemoprophylaxis and immunizations for patients with asplenia.

    Keywords
    Splenic diseases; Vaccination; Chemoprevention; Child; Korea

    Figures

    Fig. 1
    Chemoprophylaxis and pneumococcal vaccination status by year at diagnosis. As there have been no cases of invasive bacterial infection since 2008, asplenic children were divided into two groups by diagnosed year, respectively: ones who were diagnosed with asplenia between 1997 and 2007 and the others who were diagnosed with asplenia between 2008 and 2016. The rate of chemoprophylaxis was 10.2% (13/127) among children who were diagnosed with asplenia between 1997 and 2007, but 30.2% (26/86) were received chemoprophylaxis among those who were diagnosed between 2008 and 2016. Similarly, in pneumococcal vaccination, 22.6% (19/84) were vaccinated completely among children who were diagnosed with asplenia between 1997 and 2007, but 58.3% (49/84) were vaccinated completely among those who were diagnosed between 2008 and 2016.

    Tables

    Table 1
    Characteristics of Children with Acquired, Congenital, or Functional Asplenia

    Table 2
    Characteristics of Episodes of Invasive Bacterial Infection in Patients with Asplenia

    Table 3
    Vaccination Status of Asplenic Children against Encapsulated Bacteria

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    MeSH Terms
    Bacteremia
    Bacteria
    Bacterial Infections*
    Chemoprevention
    Child*
    Haemophilus influenzae type b
    Humans
    Immunization
    Incidence
    Korea
    Meningitis
    Neisseria meningitidis
    Retrospective Studies*
    Splenectomy
    Splenic Diseases
    Streptococcus pneumoniae
    Vaccination
    Metrics
    Share
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