Measles pneumonia in childhood leukemia

Fatal measles pneumonia developed in a 7-year-old boy who was in complete remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. There was no detectable antibody titer in two specimens taken eight days apart. Measles virus was grown from a lung biopsy taken shortely after hospital admission. Classical measles had been diagnosed in the patient and his siblings nine months previously. Immunosuppressed children who do not develop an antibody rise after a measles infection are at risk of later development of measles giant cell pneumonia. Suggestions are offered for the prevention of this often fatal complication.