Measles vaccine response normal in asthmatic kids

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The immune response to measles vaccination appears to be similar in children with and without asthma, Minnesota-based researchers have observed.

Little is known about whether immune responses to vaccines differ between asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients, Dr. Young J. Juhn and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, explain. It could be that individuals with conditions such as asthma may have a different response.

To investigate, the researchers examined the records of 838 children ages 5 to 12 years who had taken part in a measles vaccine response study. They had been immunized with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) II vaccine.

Of this cohort, 136 (roughly 19 percent) had asthma at the time vaccine response studies were performed.

In those with non-equivocal antibody readings, the seropositive response rate (89.7 percent) was similar to that in those without asthma (90.3 percent).

However, equivocal responses were slightly more common in children with asthma (6.4 percent versus 4.7 percent).

Summing up, Juhn told Reuters Health that "it appears that asthmatic children have a normal antibody response to measles virus vaccine. Nevertheless, further studies are required to investigate response to other vaccines and to examine the situation in asthmatic patients with vaccine failure."

SOURCE: Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, October 2006.