Serologic testing to verify the immune status of internationally adopted children against vaccine preventable diseases.
Mary Allen Staat, Laura Patricia Stadler, Stephanie Donauer, Indi Trehan, Marilyn Rice, Shelia Salisbury
Author Information
Mary Allen Staat: Department of Pediatrics, International Adoption Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 BurnetAvenue, ML 7036, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, United States. mary.staat@cchmc.org
Definitive immunization guidelines for internationally adopted children are lacking. We examined whether these children had serologic evidence of protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. For children with ≥3 vaccine doses, overall protection was high for diphtheria (85%), tetanus (95%), polio (93%), hepatitis B (77%), and Hib (67%). For children ≥12 months of age with ≥1 dose of measles, mumps, or rubella vaccines, 95%, 72%, and 94% were immune, respectively. Children without immunization documentation had lower immunity. Serologic testing was useful in verifying the immunization status in internationally adopted children with and without documentation of immunizations.
References
Vaccine. 2006 May 8;24(19):4138-43
[PMID: 16545505]
