Objective: To investigate whether children who have had measles have reduced general cell mediated immunity three years later compared with vaccinated children who have not had measles.
Design: Historical cohort study.
Setting: Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.
Subjects: 391 children aged 3-13 years who were living in Bissau during a measles epidemic in 1991 and still lived there. These included 131 primary cases and 139 secondary cases from the epidemic and 121 vaccinated controls with no history of measles.
Main outcome measures: General cell mediated immunity assessed by measurement of delayed type hypersensitivity skin responses to seven recall antigens. Anergy was defined as a lack of response to all antigens.
Results: 82 out of 268 cases of measles (31%) were anergic compared with 20 of the 121 vaccinated controls (17%) (odds ratio adjusted for potential confounding variables 2.2 (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 4.0); P 0.009). The prevalence of anergy was higher in secondary cases (33% (46/138)) than in primary cases (28% (36/130)), although this difference was not significant. Anergy was more common in the rainy season (unadjusted prevalence 31% (91/291) than in the dry season (11% (11/98)) (adjusted odds ratio 4.8 (2.2 to 10.3)). This seasonal increase occurred predominantly in the case of measles.
Conclusion: Reduced general cell mediated immunity may contribute to the higher long term mortality in children who have had measles compared with recipients of standard measles vaccine and to the higher child mortality in the rainy season in west Africa.