Title:Vaccines for Patients with COPD
Volume: 9
Issue: 1
Author(s): Dolores Moreno, Judith Barroso and Alexis Garcia
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Bacteria, COPD, exacerbations, lung disease, vaccines, virus.
Abstract: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease characterized by chronic
obstruction of lung airflow limitation. This disease is currently the fourth higher cause of death in the
world, and it is predicted to be the third by the year 2020. Patients with COPD are frequently exposed
to Human Rhinovirus, Respiratory Syncytial and Influenza Virus, as well as to Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus
pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. These infectious agents are responsible for exacerbations increasing morbidity
and mortality in COPD patients. Prevention of infectious exacerbations by vaccination would improve quality of life and
patient survival. A literature search: “vaccination of COPD patients” was performed using Medline, the Cochrane Library
and other Non-Indexed Citations for this review. This article presents a brief overview of the different studies found, on
the new patents, and the future strategies on the field.
