Dengue virus infections and maternal antibody decay in a prospective birth cohort study of Vietnamese infants

<p style="text-align:justify;"> Dengue hemorrhagic fever can occur in primary dengue virus (DENV) infection of infants. The decay of maternally derived DENV immunoglobulin (Ig) G and the incidence of DENV infection were determined in a prospectively studied cohort of 1244 Vietnamese...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chau, TN, Hieu, NT, Anders, KL, Wolbers, M, Lien, LB, Hieu, LT, Hien, TT, Hung, NT, Farrar, J, Whitehead, S, Simmons, CP
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2009
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Summary:<p style="text-align:justify;"> Dengue hemorrhagic fever can occur in primary dengue virus (DENV) infection of infants. The decay of maternally derived DENV immunoglobulin (Ig) G and the incidence of DENV infection were determined in a prospectively studied cohort of 1244 Vietnamese infants. Higher concentrations of total IgG and DENV-reactive IgG were found in cord plasma relative to maternal plasma. Maternally derived DENV-neutralizing and E protein–reactive IgG titers declined to below measurable levels in &gt;90% of infants by 6 months of age. In contrast, IgG reactive with whole DENV virions persisted until 12 months of age in 20% of infants. Serological surveillance identified 10 infants with asymptomatic DENV infection for an incidence of 1.7 cases per 100 person-years. DENV-neutralizing antibodies remained measurable for ⩾1 year after infection. These results suggest that whereas DENV infection in infants is frequently subclinical, there is a window between 4 and 12 months of age where virion-binding but nonneutralizing IgG could facilitate antibody-dependent enhancement </p>