A scientific sequel to Stieg Larsson: Relationship between Pandemrix - pandemic influenza vaccine - and the subsequent development of narcolepsy

摘要

The late Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson would be intrigued with this mystery: in 2009, with a potential pandemic of H1N1a influenza, three vaccines were approved in the EU including Pari-demrix manufactured by GSK, which was given to more than 30 million individuals in the EU, Foce-tria manufactured by Novartis, given to more than 6 million, and Celvapan manufactured by Baxter, given to more than half a million [1-4]. A year or so after the vaccine campaign, reports of an increased incidence of narcolepsy associated with Pandem-rix, but not with Focetria or Celvapan, appeared from Finland [5] and Sweden [6, 7] with adverse reports also coming from France, Ireland and Great Britain. In China where vaccination was not carried out, there was also an increase in narcolepsy [8]. In the current issue of JIM, Persson and colleagues confirm that there was an increased risk of narcolepsy with use of Pandemrix, but not of other neurological or immune-related diseases.