Pertussis immunization in HIV-1-infected infants: a model to assess the effects of repeated T cell-dependent antigen administrations on HIV-1 progression.

Several data evidence that HIV-1 replication may increase in temporal association with immunizations, raising concerns on potential negative effects of vaccinations on HIV-1 progression. Among patients prospectively followed by the "Italian Register for HIV infection in children", we evaluated, using the Cox-Mantel method, conditional probabilities of progressing to CDC clinical categories 'B' or 'C', and immunological categories '2' or '3' in 88 children immunized against pertussis and 244 non-immunized. No selection criteria were followed in vaccinating children. No significant differences were observed between the two groups. The lack of a significant impact on clinical and immunological deterioration by the repeated administrations of a T cell-dependent vaccine endorses the current recommendations for routine immunizations in HIV-1-infected children.