Passive immunity to measles in the breastmilk and cord blood of some nigerian subjects.
Maternal and cord blood collected from 33 Nigerian mother-child pairs were tested for measles-sepcific IgG. All 33 had protective measles antibodies at the time of delivery with a positive correlation of r = 0.87. Determination of the rate of waning of these antibodies revealed that 58 per cent of these children had lost the protective maternal antibody by the age of 4 months and only 3 per cent of the children had enough antibody to protect them between the ages of 6-9 months. Fifty-five colostrum samples from the same mothers and 347 breastmilk samples collected at various periods of breastfeeding also showed that anti-measles IgA had dropped below the protective cut-off within the first 2 weeks of birth. It is evident that the Nigerian child is born with solid anti-measles antibody but the rate of waning has left a large number unprotected before the first dose of the vaccine. There is an urgent need to review the measles vaccination programme in Nigeria to protect these susceptible infants.
Oyedele
O Oluseyi
OO
Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
Odemuyiwa
S O
SO
Ammerlaan
W
W
Muller
C P
CP
Adu
F D
FD
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008457:Measles / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D009549:Nigeria; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
D000914:Antibodies, Viral