Pertussis immunization in HIV-1-infected infants: a model to assess the effects of repeated T cell-dependent antigen administrations on HIV-1 progression.: Italian Register for HIV infection in children

Several data evidence that HIV-1 replication may increase in temporal association with immunizations, raising concerns on potential negative effects of vaccinations on HIV-l progression. Among patients prospectively followed by the “Italian Register for HIV infection in children”, we evaluated, using the Cox–Mantel method, conditional probabilities of progressing to CDC clinical categories ‘B’ or ‘C’, and immunological categories ‘2’ or ‘3’ in 88 children immunized against pertussis and 244 non-immunized. No selection criteria were followed in vaccinating children. No significant differences were observed between the two groups. The lack of a significant impact on clinical and immunological deterioration by the repeated administrations of a T cell-dependent vaccine endorses the current recommendations for routine immunizations in HIV-1-infected children.