Immune responses to oral poliovirus vaccine in HIV-exposed uninfected Zimbabwean infants

Church et al. (2017) published this paper in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics. The research attempts to clarify whether HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) infants have impaired responses to oral vaccines. A cross-sectional study of infants recruited at birth to the Zimbabwe Vitamin A for Mothers and Babies (ZVITAMBO) trial in Zimbawe (1197 – 2001) was carried out. Poliovirus-specific IgA to type 1–3 polio strains was measured in 85 HEU and 101 HIV-unexposed infants at 6 months of age, one month after their last immunisation with trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine. Almost all of the infants were breastfed. The results suggested that vertical HIV exposure does not impact oral poliovirus vaccine immunogenicity.