Autarcesis Against Measles in Early Infancy

Abstract

[1], Dr. Shaw proposed the existence of a natural resistance to measles in infants under the age of three months. This autarcesis is thought to be independent of generally recognized humoral and cellular mechanisms of immunity. Dr. Shaw suggested one fascinating possibility which is amenable to experimental confirmation - postnatal maturation of measles virus-specific receptors. Nevertheless, our recent clinical experience does not support that of Dr. Shaw. During the 1980 measles epidemic in Quebec [2], two infants, one aged 20 days and the other seven weeks, had measles in a two-week period during which 101 cases of measles were diagnosed clinically in our emergency room. Both infants had a typical respiratory syndrome with conjunctivitis and exanthem that began one to two weeks after an illness compatible with measles had occurred in their mothers. The 20-day-old infant had neither fever nor enanthem but did have mild bronchopneumonia; the titer of CF antibody to measles virus rose from 1:128 on those dates, 15 and 29 days after the onset of her illness.