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Source: Reuters

By: Norton, Amy

10/09/2012

Researchers led by Anne Des Roches of Montreal’s Hospital Sainte-Justine followed 367 people with egg allergies, mainly children, who received the flu shot over five years and found that it was safe for them to be immunized, as the current vaccine contains little egg protein. Although nearly 67 percent of the people studied had a history of anaphylaxis after eating eggs, none of them had a serious reaction to the flu vaccine, and just 13 exhibited itchy skin, hives, or other mild allergy-like symptoms within a day of immunization. The researchers also note that none of the 4,000 egg-allergic people involved in 26 past studies they reviewed had a serious allergic reaction to the vaccine. The study is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.