Comparisons of the effects of diseases and the side effects of vaccines

Diphtheria

• Bacteria spread by respiratory droplets.
• Causes severe throat and breathing difficulties.

• Up to 1 in 7 patients die.
• Bacteria releases a toxin which can produce nerve paralysis and heart failure.

• About 1 in 10 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site (DTPa/dTpa vaccine).
• Fever (DTPa/dTpa vaccine).
• Booster doses of DTPa may occasionally be associated with extensive swelling of the limb, but this resolves completely within a few days.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Hepatitis A

• Virus spread by contact or ingestion of faecally contaminated water/food or through contact with faecal material of a person infected with hepatitis A.

At least 7 in 10 adult patients develop:

• jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes)
• fever
• anorexia (decreased appetite)
• nausea
• vomiting
• hepatic (liver) pain
• malaise (tiredness).

• About 1 in 5 will have local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Hepatitis B

• Virus spread mainly by blood, sexual contact or from mother to newborn baby.
• Causes acute hepatitis (liver infection) or chronic infection (‘carrier’).

• About 1 in 4 chronic carriers will develop cirrhosis or liver cancer.

• About 1 in 20 will have local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• 2 in 100 will have fever.
• Anaphylaxis occurs in about 1 in 1 million.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Hib

• Bacteria spread by respiratory droplets.

Hib can cause:

• meningitis (infection of the tissues surround the brain)
• epiglottitis (respiratory obstruction)
• septicaemia (infection of the blood stream)
• septic arthritis (infection in the joints).

• About 1 in 20 meningitis patients die, and about 1 in 4 survivors has permanent brain damage.
• Epiglottitis is rapidly and invariably fatal without treatment.

• About 1 in 20 will have local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• About 1 in 50 has fever.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Human papillomavirus

• Virus spread mainly through sexual contant.
• Up to 80% of the population will be infected with HPV at some time in their lives.

• About 7 in 10 cervical cancers (worldwide) have been associated with HPV-16.
• About 1 in 6 cervical cancers (worldwide) have been associated with HPV-18.

• About 8 in 10 people will have pain at injection site.
• About 2 in 10 will will have local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• Up to 3 in 10 people may experience:
  • headaches
  • fever
  • muscle aches
  • tiredness.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Influenza

• Virus spread by respiratory droplets.
• About 1 in 10 to 1 in 5 people will get influenza every year.
• Influenza causes:
  • fever
  • muscle and joint pains
  • pneumonia.

• Influenza causes an estimated 3000 deaths in people older than 50 years of age each year in Australia.
• Causes increased hospitalisation in the very young (under 5 and the elderly.
• Other high risk groups include:
  • pregnant women
  • people who are obese
  • diabetics
  • others with certain chronic medical conditions.

• About 1 in 10 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• Fever occurs in about 1 in 10 children aged 6 months to 3 years.
• Guillain-Barré syndrome occurs in about 1 in 1 million.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Measles

• Highly infectious virus spread by respiratory droplets.
• Causes fever, cough and rash.

• About 1 in 15 children with measles develops pneumonia and 1 in 1000 develops encephalitis (brain inflammation).
• For every 10 children who develop measles encephalitis, 1 dies and many have permanent brain damage.
• About 1 in 100 000 develops SSPE (brain degeneration), which is always fatal.

• About 1 in 10 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• About 1 in 20 develops a rash, which is non-infectious.
• Low platelet count (causing bruising or bleeding) occurs after the first dose of MMR vaccine at a rate of about 1 in 20 000 to 30 000.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Meningococcal infection

• Bacteria spread by respiratory droplets.

• Causes septicaemia (infection of the blood stream) and meningitis (infection of the tissues surrounding the brain).
• About 1 in 10 patients dies. Of those that survive, 1 to 2 in 10 have permanent long-term problems, such as loss of limbs and brain damage.

• About 1 in 10 has:
  • local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site
  • fever
  • irritability
  • loss of appetite
  • headaches (conjugate vaccines).
• About 1 in 2 has a local reaction (polysaccharide vaccine).
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Mumps

• Virus spread by saliva.
• Causes swollen neck and salivary glands, and fever.

• 1 in 5000 children develops encephalitis (brain inflammation).
• 1 in 5 males (adolescent/adult) develop inflammation of the testes.
• Occasionally, mumps causes infertility or permanent deafness.

• About 1 in 100 may develop swelling of the salivary glands.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Pertussis

• Bacteria spread by respiratory droplets.
• Causes ‘whooping cough’, with prolonged cough lasting up to 3 months.

• About 1 in 125 babies under the age of 6 months with whooping cough dies from pneumonia or brain damage.

• About 1 in 10 has:
  • local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site
  • fever (DTPa/dTpa vaccine).
• Booster doses of DTPa may occasionally be associated with extensive swelling of the limb, but this resolves completely within a few days.
• Serious adverse events are very rare

Pneumococcal infection

• Bacteria spread by respiratory droplets.
• Causes:
  • septicaemia (infection of the blood stream)
  • meningitis (infection of the tissues surrounding the brain)
  • occasionally other infections.

• About 3 in 10 people with meningitis die.
• One-third of all pneumonia cases and up to half of pneumonia hospitalisations in adults is caused by pneumococcal infection.

• About 1 in 5 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site or fever (conjugate vaccine).
• Up to 1 in 2 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site (polysaccharide vaccine).
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Polio

• Virus spread in faeces and saliva
• Causes:
  • fever
  • headache
  • vomiting
  • may progress to paralysis.

• While many infections cause no symptoms, up to 3 in 10 patients with paralytic polio die, and many patients who survive are permanently paralysed.

• Local redness, pain and swelling at the injection site are common.
• Up to 1 in 10 has fever, crying and decreased appetite.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Rotavirus

• Virus spread by faecal–oral route.
• Causes gastroenteritis, which can be severe.

• Illness may range from mild diarrhoea to severe dehydrating diarrhoea and fever, which can result in death.
• Before the vaccine was introduced:
  • 10 000 children were hospitalised each year
  • 115 000 needed GP visits each year
  • 22 000 required an emergency department visit each year.

• Up to 3 in 100 may develop diarrhoea or vomiting in the week after receiving the vaccine.
• About 1 in 17 000 babies may develop intussusception in the first few weeks after the first or second vaccine doses.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Rubella

• Virus spread by respiratory droplets.
• causes fever, rash and swollen glands, but causes severe malformations in babies of infected pregnant women.

• Patients typically develop a rash, painful swollen glands and painful joints.
• 1 in 3000 develops low platelet count (causing bruising or bleeding)
• 1 in 6000 develops encephalitis (brain inflammation).
• Up to 9 in 10 babies infected during the first trimester of pregnancy will have a major congenital abnormality (including deafness, blindness or heart defects)

• About 1 in 10 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site.
• About 1 in 20 has swollen glands, stiff neck or joint pains.
• About 1 in 20 has a rash, which is non-infectious.
• Low platelet count (causing bruising or bleeding) occurs after the1st dose of MMR vaccine, at a rate of about 1 in 20 000 to 30 000.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Tetanus

• Caused by toxin of bacteria in soil.
• Causes painful muscle spasms, convulsions, lockjaw.

• About 2 in 100 patients die.
• The risk is greatest for the very young or old.

• About 1 in 10 has local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site, or fever (DTPa/dTpa vaccine).
• Booster doses of DTPa may occasionally be associated with extensive swelling of the limb, but this resolves completely within a few days.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.

Varicella

• Highly contagious virus.
• Causes low-grade fever and vesicular rash (fluid-filled spots).
• Reactivation of the virus later in life causes herpes zoster (shingles).

• One in 100 000 patients develops encephalitis (brain inflammation).
• Infection during pregnancy can result in congenital malformations in the baby.
• Infection in the mother around delivery time results in severe infection in the newborn baby in up to one-third of cases.

• About 1 in 5 has a local reaction or fever.
• About 3 to 5 in 100 may develop a mild varicella-like rash.
• Serious adverse events are very rare.