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Younger age at measles vaccination increased risk for disease
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SAN FRANCISCO — Children who received the two-dose measles vaccination at an earlier age had a significantly elevated risk for measles infection during adolescence. Therefore, researchers from Canada concluded that the optimal two-dose schedule needed for measles elimination requires further evaluation, according to study data presented at the 52nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
An earlier outbreak investigation revealed that adolescents who received two doses of measles vaccine beginning at 12 to 14 months of age were at nearly threefold higher risk for measles infection compared with patients whose two-dose series began at 15 months of age or older, according to Gaston De Serres, MD, PhD, of Laval University in Quebec, who presented the data.
Based on those study results, De Serres and colleagues conducted a matched case-control study that included 61 patients and 305 controls. In their study, the risk for measles was at least sixfold higher when the first dose was administered at 12 to 13 months of age (OR=6.24, 95% CI, 1.3-29.3) compared with 15 months of age or older; at 14 months, the OR was 1.88 (95% CI, 0.24-14.9). Results were similar when adjusted for age at second dose or interval between doses.
Gaston De Serres
The current study included only patients who received two doses of measles vaccine, and all confirmed cases of measles infection occurred among patients aged 8 to 17 years reported in the province from outside the high school from the original study.
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De Serres G. #G-876b. Presented at: ICAAC; Sept. 9-12, 2012; San Francisco.
Disclosure: De Serres reports receiving research funds from GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Pasteur.