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April 15, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Effect of Vitamin A Supplementation on Measles-Specific Antibody Levels in Guinea-Bissau" Lancet (www.thelancet.com) (04/13/02) Vol. 359, No. 9314, P. 1313; Benn, Christine Stabell; Balde, Aliu; George, Elisha

Researchers provide an update on an earlier report regarding the provision of vitamin A supplementation with the measles vaccine for young children.  The original study was carried out in 1993-1995 among children in the African country of Guinea-Bissau who had been officially classified as suffering from "subclinical vitamin A deficiency."  In the earlier study it was found that children who received the measles vaccine and the vitamin A supplement at the age of nine months had greater measles-specific antibody concentrations when they were one-and-a-half years old than children who had been given the placebo.  The researchers re-examined the children when they were between six years and eight years of age, and they found that those children who had been given the vitamin A supplement as well as the measles vaccine all had higher geometric mean antibody titres than children given the placebo.  The authors conclude that "simultaneous administration of vitamin A supplementation and measles vaccine has a long-term effect on measles-specific antibody concentrations and may contribute to improved measles control in the less-developed world."

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