Keep in mind that results presented at conferences aren't always final, haven't been published yet and may contain errors! If you have questions about anything you read here — especially whether your current health or meds may cause issues if you get a flu shot — please speak with your doctor(s).
THE BASICS:
85 BD patients and 85 healthy people received unadjuvanted [defined at the bottom] flu shots and were monitored for 21 days afterwards.
- BD patients developed antibodies from the shot significantly LESS often than healthy people (69% vs 83%).
- The BD patients who developed fewer antibodies had more active BD symptoms at the time of the shot (73% vs 39%).
- It didn't make any difference to the outcome if the BD patients were taking corticosteroids, immunosuppressants or TNF-blockers at the time they got the shot. It also didn't matter if they'd just developed BD recently or had had it for decades.
- BD patients had significantly more mild/fleeting side effects from the shot than healthy people: fever (7% vs 0%), headache (27% vs 12%), joint pain (24% vs 0.2%) and muscle pain (25% vs. 9%). None of the BD patients reported moderate or severe side effects.
NOTE: This study used "unadjuvanted" vaccine (a vaccine that wasn't live, and didn't include an adjuvant -- "a substance that is added during production to increase the body's immune response to a vaccine" [http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/pdf/ichp-cips-glos-eng.pdf]).
The abstract for this study can be seen here:
https://ww2.rheumatology.org/apps/MyAnnualMeeting/Abstract/36846