Encephalitis after administration of live measles vaccine.

In a previously well child with no evidence of pre-existing immunologic defect a fatal encephalitis developed 10 days after administration of measles vaccine. There was pathologic evidence of an early viral encephalitis characterized by perivascular mononulcear infiltrates. Although the virus was not recovered, the diagnosis of a measles virus infection and encephalitis is supported by the postmortem findings of Warthin-Finkeldey cells in lymphoid tissues, an intranuclear inclusion in the brain and histologic changes of encephalitis.     

Materials on the serologic study of children inoculated with live measles vaccine

The results of serological examination of children, residents of Leningrad, vaccinated with live measles vaccine, are presented. A total of 2012 children were examined. Antibodies were absent in children of different age in 4.2--15.8% of cases. The greatest percentage of secronegative children (15) was noted among those vaccinated at the age of under one year. The mean geometrical antibody titres were the greatest in children aged from 7 to 14 years. The values of these mean titres were less in children vaccinated at the age of under one year than in those vaccinated later--6.5--8.6 and 10.6--11.3, respectively.     

Effect of a live measles vaccine on the chromosome apparatus of mouse bone marrow cells

Vaccination of albino mice with live measles vaccine caused an increase in the chromosome aberrations frequency during the period from the 30th till the 120th day of the experiment. The maximum increase in the number of chromosome aberrations as well as in centromeric and telomeric chromosome associations was observed 60 days after immunization. Chromatid breaks were main type of the structural aberrations observed.     

Characteristics of the immune response of children in the Arctic to live measles vaccine

The intensity of immune response to live measles vaccine varies in children living in different climatic and geographical regions. The least intensive immunogenesis is registered in children living in the Arctic regions. The level of seroconversion in children living in these regions rises in response to measles vaccine containing a 10-fold amount of the virus per immunization dose.