Antibody response to live virus vaccines in congenital and neonatal cytomegalovirus infections.

When 42 infants with congenitally or neonatally acquired cytomegalovirus infections were one year of age, they were given live attenuated measles-mumps-rubella combined vaccine to determine what effect, if any, the existence of chronic CMV infection has on the antibody response to measles and rubella antigens. When the infected infants were compared with 60 healthy non-CMV-infected control infants, no significant difference in the seroconversion rates or ultimate antibody levels was observed with either measles or rubella antigens. Persistence of antibody, when measured three years after vaccination, was likewise similar in each group; levels had waned only slightly. These results demonstrate the intactness of humoral immunity in children with pre- and perinatal CMV infection.