Measles Immunization in HIV-Infected Children

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Abstract
Children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have had high rates of mortality attributable to measles, but until recently, measles vaccine was assumed to be safe for these children. A single fatal case of pneumonia attributable to vaccine type-measles virus has been documented in a young adult with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Because a protective immune response often does not develop in severely immunocompromised HIV-infected patients after immunization and some risk of severe complications exists, HIV-infected children, adolescents, and young adults who are severely immunocompromised (based on age-specific CD4 lymphocyte enumeration) attributable to HIV infection should not receive measles vaccine. All other HIV-infected children, adolescents, and young adults who are not severely immunocompromised should receive measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.