Similar Antibody Levels in 3-Year-Old Children Vaccinated Against Measles Mumps and Rubella at the Age of 12 Months or 18 Months.

Tuesday, 7th of June 2016 Print

J Infect Dis. 2016 Jun 15;213(12):2005-13. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiw058. Epub 2016 Feb 9.

Similar Antibody Levels in 3-Year-Old Children Vaccinated Against Measles Mumps and Rubella at the Age of 12 Months or 18 Months.

Kontio M1 Palmu AA2 Syrjänen RK2 Lahdenkari M2 Ruokokoski E2 Davidkin I1 Vaarala O3 Melin M2.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccinations have been offered to Finnish children at 14-18 months and 6 years of age. In May 2011 the recommended age for the first vaccine dose was lowered to 12 months because of the European measles epidemic.

METHODS:

Fingertip capillary blood samples were collected from 3-year-old Finnish children vaccinated once with MMR vaccine at 11-19 months of age. The immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to all 3 MMR antigens were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Neutralizing antibodies and the avidity of antibodies were measured for measles virus.

RESULTS:

From April through October 2013 187 children were enrolled. Equally high proportions of the samples were seropositive for measles virus mumps virus or rubella virus antibodies and there were no significant differences in the IgG antibody concentrations in children vaccinated at 11-13 months of age compared with those vaccinated at 17-19 months of age. However among children vaccinated at 11-13 months of age boys had lower antibody concentrations than girls. Neutralizing measles virus antibody titers were above the threshold for protective immunity in all 78 samples analyzed. The measles virus antibody avidity indexes were high for all children.

CONCLUSIONS:

MMR induces similar antibody responses in 12-month-old children as compared to 18-month-old children but in boys increasing age appears to improve the antibody responses.

© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

 

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