title: Elimination of maternal antibodies against measles (is the policy of vaccinating children younger than nine months of age suitable for Turkey?).
abstract: Maternal antibodies against measles in 223 healthy children aged 22 to 31 weeks were studied. The ratio of children with detectable antibodies declined from 61.4 percent at 22-23 weeks of age to 20 percent at 26-27 weeks of age. Since the minimum proportion of antibody-positive children (15.6% at 26-27 weeks of age) is still higher than the optimum proportion (5%), the Schwarz vaccine which is used mostly in measles immunization seems not to be effective to obtain a high seroconversion rate in our infants. We suggest that the Edmonston-Zagreb strain of measles vaccine be used for infants under 9 months of age in Turkey.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kanra
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ceyhan
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008457:Measles / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008458:Measles Vaccine; D008459:Measles virus / Q000276:immunology*; D014421:Turkey; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D008458:Measles Vaccine