Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Aug 6, 2016; 7(3): 387-396
Published online Aug 6, 2016. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v7.i3.387
What is the best way to manage screening for infections and vaccination of inflammatory bowel disease patients?
Gianluca Andrisani, Alessandro Armuzzi, Manuela Marzo, Carla Felice, Daniela Pugliese, Alfredo Papa, Luisa Guidi
Gianluca Andrisani, Alessandro Armuzzi, Manuela Marzo, Carla Felice, Daniela Pugliese, Alfredo Papa, Luisa Guidi, IBD Unit, Complesso Integrato Columbus, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
Author contributions: Andrisani G and Guidi L contributed to literature search and wrote the manuscript; Armuzzi A and Marzo M contributed to literature review and proof reading of the manuscript; Felice C, Pugliese D and Papa A performed proof reading of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict-of-interest related to this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Luisa Guidi, MD, PhD, IBD Unit, Complesso Integrato Columbus, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, via Moscati 31, 00168 Rome, Italy. guidi@rm.unicatt.it
Telephone: +39-6-3503310 Fax: +39-6-3054641
Received: May 14, 2015
Peer-review started: May 15, 2015
First decision: September 8, 2015
Revised: April 25, 2016
Accepted: June 14, 2016
Article in press: June 16, 2016
Published online: August 6, 2016
Processing time: 445 Days and 6.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The increasing use of biologics as a mainstay of therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with an increased risk for a variety of infections, many of which are preventable by prior screening and vaccination. While immunocompetent IBD patients can be vaccinated using standard vaccination schedule, special guidelines need to be followed for IBD patients getting immunosuppressive therapy (IST). This article provides a review of the issues surrounding immunizations in the IBD patient and a practical guide for clinicians regarding the appropriate screening for infections and vaccinations to administer both before and during IST.