MEASLES-MUMPS-RUBELLA VACCINE AND EGG ALLERGY: AN EPOCHAL TURNING-POINT

Key words: Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, Egg allergy, Anaphylaxis

Since measles and mumps components used in measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine are grown in cultures of fibroblast from chick embryos, the safety of administering MMR vaccine to patients allergic to eggs has been debated for long time. Finally international recommendations and Italian guide line clearly state that MMR vaccine do not contain significant amounts of egg cross-reacting proteins and so there are no risks for patients allergic to eggs. Furthermore, children with egg allergy are at low risk of allergic reaction to MMR, even if they have a history of severe anaphylaxis to egg ingestion: they can be vaccinated regularly, without previous skin test with the vaccine and the procedure does not need to be done in a hospital.