Response to RIT 4237 oral rotavirus vaccine in breast-fed and formula-fed infants.

Twenty-six full-term newborns (15 males and 11 females) were followed-up from birth to 5 months of age. During the first month of life, all of them were breast-fed. Thereafter those infants whose mothers produced enough milk continued breast-feeding (n = 16) while the remaining (n = 10) changed to an adapted milk formula supplying approximately 2 g/kg/day of protein and 100 Kcal/kg/day. At 4 months of life, all infants were vaccinated with one oral dose of RIT 4237 rotavirus vaccine of bovine origin. Before and one month after the vaccination, total protein immunoglobulin and IgM type antibodies against rotavirus were evaluated in serum. Growth, weight, length, head circumference and nutritional serum parameters were comparable in both groups of infants as well as the immune response to the RIT 4237 vaccine. Moreover, the "take" of RIT 4237 oral rotavirus vaccine was not lowered by the concomitant administration of human breast-milk which is known to contain rotavirus antibodies. Therefore, breast-feeding is probably not a contraindication for vaccination with RIT 4237, which is most important in developing countries where rotavirus infection is common in young infants and results in acute diarrhoea often leading to death.