Risk factors for delay in starting age-appropriate vaccinations among infants in urban slums of Bangladesh.

Age-appropriate vaccination is crucial for infants, protecting them from vaccine-preventable diseases. Delaying in starting initial immunization may result in incomplete or non-vaccination in early life. However, limited vaccine coverage data are available regarding the starting age of vaccination.

Impact of Haemophilus influenzae type b combination vaccination on asthma symptoms and pneumonia in 5-year-old children in rural Bangladesh: a longitudinal study and comparison with a previous cross-sectional study.

Background: Although the prevalence of bronchial asthma has been increasing worldwide since the 1970's, the prevalence among 5-year-old children was significantly lower in 2016 than in 2001 in rural Bangladesh. We aimed to determine whether the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) combination vaccination (without booster) started in 2009 contributed to this decrease.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted among 1658 randomly selected 5-year-old children from Matlab, Bangladesh.

Comparisons of the effect of naturally acquired maternal pertussis antibodies and antenatal vaccination induced maternal tetanus antibodies on infant's antibody secreting lymphocyte responses and circulating plasma antibody levels.

The goal of this study was to explore the effects of trans-placental tetanus toxoid (TT) and pertussis (PT) antibodies on an infant's response to vaccination in the context of antenatal immunization with tetanus but not with pertussis. 38 mothers received a single dose of TT vaccine during pregnancy. Infants received tetanus and pertussis vaccines at 6, 10 and 14 wk of age.

Maternal zinc supplementation improves hepatitis B antibody responses in infants but decreases plasma zinc level.

Purpose: The World Health Report identifies zinc deficiency as one of the major causes of disease in developing countries, and infants are at particular risk. We aimed to investigate the effect of maternal zinc supplementation on the infant's immune function in a population at risk of deficiency.

Methods: In a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial, mothers were supplemented either with 20 mg/day of elemental zinc (n = 20) or placebo (n = 19) at the beginning of second trimester, which continued until 6 months postpartum.

The effect of postpartum vitamin A supplementation on breast milk immune regulators and infant immune functions: study protocol of a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Because of limited impact on infant morbidity, mortality, and vitamin A status, the new guideline of the World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend postpartum vitamin A supplementation (VAS) as a public health intervention in developing countries. However, breast milk contains numerous immune-protective components that are important for infant immune development, and several of these components are regulated by vitamin A.

Methods/design: Postpartum women are being enrolled within 3 days (d) of delivery at a maternity clinic located in a slum area of Dhaka city and randomized to one of four postpartum VAS regimens (32/group, total 128).

On birth single dose live attenuated OPV and BCG vaccination induces gut cathelicidin LL37 responses at 6 week of age: a natural experiment.

In a cross sectional study, we show that infants who received single dose of live attenuated OPV and BCG vaccines within 48h of birth, have higher excretion of human cathelicidin LL37 (p<0.05) in stool at 6wk of age. This response remained unchanged in multivariate analysis after adjusting for sex, mode of delivery, infant age, mother age birth weight and breast milk feeding pattern.

The effect of newborn vitamin A supplementation on infant immune functions: trial design, interventions, and baseline data.

In recent years, neonatal vitamin A supplementation is considered as an essential infant-survival intervention but the evidence is not conclusive. This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of vitamin A on immune competence in early infancy. Results would provide a mechanistic basis for understanding the effect of this intervention on infant survival.

Antibody avidity in humoral immune responses in Bangladeshi children and adults following administration of an oral killed cholera vaccine.

Antibody avidity for antigens following disease or vaccination increases with affinity maturation and somatic hypermutation. In this study, we followed children and adults in Bangladesh for 1 year following oral cholera vaccination and measured the avidity of antibodies to the T cell-dependent antigen cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) and the T cell-independent antigen lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in comparison with responses in other immunological measurements. Children produced CTB-specific IgG and IgA antibodies of high avidity following vaccination, which persisted for several months; the magnitudes of responses were comparable to those seen in adult vaccinees.

Study of avidity of antigen-specific antibody as a means of understanding development of long-term immunological memory after Vibrio cholerae O1 infection.

The avidity of antibodies to specific antigens and the relationship of avidity to memory B cell responses to these antigens have not been studied in patients with cholera or those receiving oral cholera vaccines. We measured the avidity of antibodies to cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) and Vibrio cholerae O1 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in Bangladeshi adult cholera patients (n = 30), as well as vaccinees (n = 30) after administration of two doses of a killed oral cholera vaccine. We assessed antibody and memory B cell responses at the acute stage in patients or prior to vaccination in vaccinees and then in follow-up over a year.

Differential host immune responses to epidemic and endemic strains of Shigella dysenteriae type I.

Shigella dysenteriae type 1 causes devastating epidemics in developing countries with high case-fatality rates in all age-groups. The aim of the study was to compare host immune responses to epidemic (T2218) and endemic strains of S. dysenteriae type 1.

Zinc influences innate immune responses in children with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-induced diarrhea.

Information is limited on the effect of zinc on immune responses in children with diarrhea due to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), the most common bacterial pathogen in children. We studied the immunological effect of zinc treatment (20 mg/d) and supplementation (10 mg/d) in children with diarrhea due to ETEC. A total of 148 children aged 6-24 mo were followed up for 9 mo after a 10-d zinc treatment (ZT; n = 74) or a 10-d zinc treatment plus 3-mo supplementation (ZT+S; n = 74), as well as 50 children with ETEC-induced diarrhea that were not treated with zinc (UT).

Low birth weight is associated with altered immune function in rural Bangladeshi children: a birth cohort study.

Background: Low birth weight is generally an outcome of a fetal insult or nutritional insufficiency. Recent studies have shown that such exposure early in life may have long-term implications for later immunocompetence and susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the effect of birth weight on immune function in preschool-age children.