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Flu shots a must for arthritis patients Marianne Wait writing in Arthritis Today reported
on treatment guidelines published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America in December which
remind doctors and patients that people with a chronic inflammatory disease, even those
who take immune-suppressing medications, should not shy away from getting flu and pneumonia
vaccine shots. People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus,
psoriatic arthritis and other autoimmune forms of arthritis face an elevated risk of infections,
including influenza and pneumonia. The increased risk may be due to the disease, which changes
how the immune system functions, as well the medications used to control the disease, many
of which suppress the immune system. Comment: I always recommend flu vaccination
for my arthritis patients.