POOR ANTIBODY RESPONSE TO YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION IN CHILDREN INFECTED WITH HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS TYPE 1

The AIDS epidemic in children has raised concern regarding the safety and effectiveness of vaccines used in the routine immunization of children infected with HIV-1. Studies have established that most routine childhood vaccines can be safely administered to HIV-infected children but that some antigens are less immunogenic in this population. Since the mid-1980s, AIDS has emerged as a significant public health problem among children in Abidjan, the principal city of Cote d'Ivoire, where 0.8% of healthy children and 8.2% of hospitalized children were documented to be HIV-seropositive in 1989 and 1992, respectively. Because Cote d'Ivoire lies in the yellow fever (YF) endemic zone, YF vaccination is part of the routine childhood immunization schedule. YF vaccine is a live attenuated virus vaccine that is generally well-tolerated, produces an immune response in 95% of vaccinees and affords excellent protection from YF infection. However, there are no published data on the immunogenicity of YF vaccination in HIV-infected children. We assessed this issue in a cohort of children followed in Abidjan.