Men B

[Itscurtainsforyou]

My premature baby had the men B at 8 weeks and it literally nearly killed him.

Because of this, we deferred his next two men B jabs until a time when he was well and stronger.

He's nearly two years old now and I've booked him in for next week. But I feel particularly stressed about it and worried that he'll have another strong reaction.

Please can someone make me feel better?

I'm not sure this will make you feel any better as our ds's are different ages, but I wanted to reply. My ds was premature, he had the vaccine at the beginning of last year, he was 3 years old and was perfectly fine.

What was the reaction? How did the medics explain it to you/have they explained why they think things will be different this time around?

I'm now in 2 minds about it as I've read some guidance saying premature babies (under 28 weeks) should seek advice before having it, and also that you shouldn't have it if you've reacted to a previous dose..,

At his 8 weeks jabs he was still in hospital on breathing support and he went down hill dramatically, ended up in ICU on a ventilator with a temperature of 41+ that they struggled to get down. We thought he was dying.

At the time the Drs tried to say it was coincidence, then the same reaction occurred in two other babies and they admitted that it could be the immunisations to blame. He's had all other imms since except the men b and been fine.

They said if he has it now he's bigger/stronger (& at a point free from infection) he'd probably be ok.

@curtains - I'm not a medic, but I know that if there's another infection going on and baby has had a temperature in the last 7 days, some immunisations shouldn't be administered. My DS 16 week jabs were deferred twice because he'd had viruses with a temperature in the week previous both times. Did your DS perhaps have another illness while he was in NICU before the men b vaccine was given?

Hi - I don't think so, they were really good at timing them so they didn't overlap. And as two other babies (similar circumstances) had the same reaction the Drs changed their initial explanation from coincidence/virus/infection at the same time to a possible link with the men b.

The trouble is, no one knows for sure and I'm scared to test it out! We've almost lost him a number of times...

@curtains blimey- did they ever make a report to the vaccine safety thingy? If there's a suspected adverse reaction it should always be reported.

No other advice really... maybe speak to a paediatrician who can give you a realistic risk/benefit analysis?

I would say that for me personally in your situation, I might be tempted to think the risk of MenB (although a devastating illness) would be small enough to not take up the vaccine- but I don't know the statistics, so I'd take some medical advice from someone who knows the likelihood of both infection and reaction first.

What a conundrum?! Hope you get it sorted.

I believe they did write it up but not sure what happened after that. Not sure how to find out now.

Any dr I've spoken to has dismissed the chance of it happening again, but none of them were involved at the time/know the details.

I'm finding this really tricky, he's had one dose (which is better than none but not as good as 3) but I'm scared of his reaction happening again, without us already being in hospital (& him not being closely monitored with medical staff who can respond immediately).

I'm surprised they have him the first Jab when he was still in hospital - I thought official guidance was that you had to be mostly well to have vaccines. Being on breathing support doesn't seem mostly well to me.

I completely understand your worry and dilemma. If it was me I would book an appointment with either a gp or her general paed if you have one to discuss her vaccine schedule before you have this.

I think it's probably find now but I would be cross they'd given the jab when she was still so little the first time. By comparison my baby was also in hospital at times her jabs were due and no one ever talked to us about having them in hospital. We just waited until she was better and had them slightly delayed.

Have you spoken to your hospital? I ask because my little boy has a heart complication which means things can get and have gotten extremely scary with temperatures. He reacted horribly to his 26 week jabs and for his MMR (we then had a diagnosis but for his 16 week jabs didn't know) the paed team were happy to have him in as a day patient, give him his jabs first thing and then monitor through the day. Might be worth a call if there's someone you have contact with there

Oh and PS he was fine. Wouldn't know he had anything happen at all

He was extremely premature, but was doing well (relatively speaking, off the ventilator but still on less invasive breathing support). The guidance with prem babies is to give immunisations at their actual (not corrected) age to give them protection as soon as possible.

I believe they'd only given a small number of babies the new men b immunisation as it hadn't been out long.

Just to complicate things, he was one of 4 babies who had a dormant "bug" in their systems (i believe once you have it you always will) and all 4 of the babies had a bad reaction to the jabs.

I've tried talking to gp and paediatrician but as neither were around or know the details they just tend to fob me off with "I'm sure he'll be ok now he's bigger and stronger". Well I'm not, and as there's never been a clear answer to why he had such an awful reaction, I'm not sure anyone can give me reassurance that it won't happen again.

Then don't vaccinate for a while- you can wait until he's older - even if you wait 6-12 months he'll be bigger and stronger and you'll be able to see what's happening unlike with a little baby when it's so hard to tell and they change so fast. Go with your gut.

What was the dormant bug?

Also I believe the main risk for men b is for young babies and at 2 he's getting lower risk - delay until you are happy

The dormant bug is quite rare so may out myself if I name it. But it can be fatal. They said he was "colonised" rather than having the full blown version, but that it would always be in his system.

Thanks all. I think you're right, I'm going to delay it for now.

I think in your situation I wouldn't risk another dose, especially as the vaccine is still pretty new and no one will be able to say with any confidence what will happen. The default position for most medical types is to recommend the vaccine, but this often doesn't take individual circumstances into account. The risk of contracting Men B at 2 years old is really very low (actually it's pretty low at any age), and a recent JCVI review into whether it was worth extending the scheme to 1-2 year olds concluded that it wasn't. (The risk beyond two was so low they didn't even model whether that was worth it, and their modelling for under 1s only just scraped in as worth it when they tweaked the parameters.)

Thank you - that's good to know.

May be of interest www.meningitis.org/blog/about-meningitis-septicaemia-protecting-teenagers-in-the-112371