[Efficacy of measles vaccination in young malnourished African children]

A survey aiming at assessing the anti-measles vaccination efficiency among malnourished children, 1-3 years old, has been conducted in rural Upper-Volta. The haemagglutination inhibition technique has been used and antibodies titers higher or equal to 20 were considered as markers of protective immunity. Malnutrition does not seem to be a factor that decreases the anti-measles antibodies production, because there is no significative difference between seroconversion percentages of well and malnourished children. It is proposed that a new serological technique would be useful in the assessment of actual post-vaccinal immunity, mainly in children with ages ranging from 6 to 12 months old.