AIDSWEEKLY Plus, Monday, 24 February 1997
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
Influenza vaccination does not intensify HIV infection in children, a clinical study shows.
Recent data suggest that immune activation temporarily increases HIV replication. Since increased viral burden is now known to be associated with more rapid disease progression, there is great concern that routine vaccinations could speed progression to AIDS in children.
These fears can be laid to rest, according to a study by Richard M. Donovan and colleagues of the Henry Ford Hospital and Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit. They reported their findings at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held January 22-26, 1997, in Washington, D.C.
Donovan et al. evaluated HIV RNA levels and CD4 counts before and after influenza vaccination of 39 children with HIV infection.
The children, whose median age was 5.5 years, had a median CD4 percentage of 30 percent before and 29 percent after vaccination (P=0.86). They had a median CD4 count of 861 cells/(micro)L before and 663 cells/(micro)L after vaccination (P=0.10).
Their median HIV RNA level was 1042 copies/50 (micro)L before and 1,042 copies/50 (micro)L after vaccination (P=0.67).
A four-fold increase in plasma HIV RNA occurred in one of the children.
Donovan et al. noted that these results mirror those seen in a similar cohort of nine children examined before and after DPT vaccination.
"There was no evidence of significant changes in CD4(+) cell count or an increase in the HIV viral load after influenza or DPT vaccinations in this pediatric cohort," they wrote in their presentation abstract.
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