Humoral Immunity against Measles in Mother–Infant Pairs during the First Year of Life in Greece: A Cross-Sectional Study
Florentia Kanakoudi-Tsakalidou,
Evangelia Farmaki,
Eleni Papadimitriou,
Anna Taparkou,
Eleni Agakidou,
Styliani Glykou,
Fotiοs Papachristou
Affiliations
Florentia Kanakoudi-Tsakalidou
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Evangelia Farmaki
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Eleni Papadimitriou
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Anna Taparkou
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Eleni Agakidou
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Styliani Glykou
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Fotiοs Papachristou
1st Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokrateion General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Str, P.C. 54246 Thessaloniki, Greece
Measles outbreaks have surfaced in Europe during the last decades. Infants <12 months of age were the most severely affected pediatric population. The aim of this study was to investigate the duration of maternally derived measles antibodies in infants aged 1 to 12 months in relation to maternal humoral immune status and other parameters. In a prospective, cross-sectional cohort study, 124 mother/infant pairs and 63 additional infants were recruited from October 2015 through December 2019. Infants were hospitalized in a university pediatric department of a general hospital. Demographic and epidemiological data were recorded and blood samples were collected from mothers and their infants. Commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for measuring measles antibodies. Fifty nine percent of mothers had vaccine-induced and 15% infection-acquired measles immunity. Eighty-eight percent and 94% of infants were unprotected by 5 and 10 months of age, respectively. Maternal antibody levels and infant age were significant independent predictors of infants’ antibody levels whereas the method of maternal immunity acquisition, age, and origin [Greek/non-Greek] were not. Our findings suggest that about 90% of infants are susceptible to measles beyond the age of 4 months. To our knowledge, these are the first data from Greece reported under the current community composition and epidemiological conditions.