Maternally acquired immunity in newborns from women infected by the human immunodeficiency virus

Maternally acquired immunity was studied in 16 pairs of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive women and their newborns, and was compared to 18 control mother-newborn pairs. The HIV-infected women had higher IgG levels than the control subjects, but no difference was observed between newborn samples, presumably due to the limited placental IgG transfer in the HIV group. A poor type 2 poliovirus antibody transfer was also noted in this group. The population of newborns lacking demonstrable measles antibodies was higher in the HIV group than in the control group, probably because many of the HIV-infected mothers lacked measles antibodies also. These results show that maternally acquired immunity may be affected to newborns from HIV-infected women, either because of low maternal serum antibody levels or deficient transplacental transfer. If so, the measles vaccine schedule should be revised for these children and the same should be done for future passive immunization regarding fetus protection in pregnant HIV-seropositive women.