Clinical and immunological studies on a live attenuated measles virus vaccine in infants and children.

Abstract

The immunological efficacy and the absence of communicability of live attenuated measles virus vaccine has been described by Katz &, Enders [8] and others [l, 2, 4, 7 , 9-11, 13-18, 21, 241. Since immunity to natural measles infection shortly after vaccination has also been reported [6, 7, 14, 151, the final acceptance of the vaccine for routine pediatric immunization will presumably depend on the persistence of the immunity conferred and on the severity of reaction to vaccination. According to earlier studies, fever and rash may result from the vaccination. It is generally concluded, however, that the reactions are mild and that the “wellbeing” of the children with reactions is apparent [lo]. On the other hand, vaccination may occasionally be accompanied by high fever and malaise [18]. It has also been shown that marked reduction in such reactions can be obtained with small doses of gamma-globulin without suppression of the antibody response [17, 181. The present study has been undertaken mainly to gain further information re-