SYNOPSIS
Researchers found that febrile seizures occurred in roughly one in every 1,000 children who were given the MMR vaccine and two genetic variants came to light that pointed to a higher risk of a febrile seizure in the second week following MMR vaccination.
TITLE
Common variants associated with general and MMR vaccine–related febrile seizures
CITATION
Bjarke Feenstra, Bjorn Pasternak, Frank Geller, Lisbeth Carstensen, et. al. Nature Genetics 46, 1274-1282; 26 October, 2014.
SUMMARY
Febrile seizures represent a serious adverse event following measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination. We conducted a series of genome-wide association scans comparing children with MMR-related febrile seizures, children with febrile seizures unrelated to vaccination and controls with no history of febrile seizures. Two loci were distinctly associated with MMR-related febrile seizures. Furthermore, four loci were associated with febrile seizures in general, implicating the sodium channel genes and a region associated with magnesium levels.