Possible pneumococcal vaccine associated thrombocytopenia in a child

ABSTRACT

Idiopathic thrombocytopenia is a relatively common condition for which different modalities of therapy have been tried, including splenectomy. The patients who undergo splenectomy usually receive pneumococcal vaccine to protect them from the risk of post splenectomy sepsis. This is usually considered a safe vaccine and very few side effects have been reported. Here, we report a patient whose thrombocytopenia recurred following splenectomy and after pneumococcal vaccine. We wish to suggest that there may be a causal relationship between the thrombocytopenia and pneumococcal vaccine and alert other physicians to the potential for this to occur