Antiretrovirals important to protect HIV-positive children from measles

Scientific American looks at the possible link between HIV prevalence and a recent increase in the number of children dying from measles in sub-Saharan Africa. "Studies show that infants with HIV do not respond well to the measles vaccine even when given a second dose at nine months, as the World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends," the article notes.

However, "HIV-infected children can develop immunity to measles if they receive antiretroviral therapy before vaccination." Only 33 percent of HIV-positive children in a Kenya study who had received a measles vaccine at birth still had antibodies to the disease at age five. But "[w]hen the HIV-infected five-year-olds in the Kenya study were revaccinated after six months of antiretroviral treatment, their measles immunity rose to 78 percent," according to Scientific American (Westly, 5/12).