Asthma is considered a chronic inflammatory
airway disease. Mounting evidence
reports that
patients with
asthma are at significantly higher
risk of developing
communicable diseases such as invasive
pneumococcal disease,
Haemophilus influenza,
varicella,
measles,
pertussis and
tetanus. While impaired
innate immunity may
play a
role in increased
risk of developing these
infections, suboptimal adaptive
immune responses have also been reported to
play a
role in asthmatic subjects with regard to increased
risk of
infections. This
review discusses the currently underrecognized immunological effect of
asthma on antibody to
vaccines and recommends that clinicians be aware of less optimal
antibody production in response to
vaccines in subjects with
asthma.