Christine Stabell Benn

..23-10.26) times higher risk of dying before 36 months of age, whereas it made no difference in male children (0.97 [0.34-2.80]). The result supports that receiving DTP after measles vaccine affects female children negatively...

..We aimed to test these observations...

..Based on these observations, vitamin A supplementation does not seem to have a strong long-term effect on CD4 and CD8 T-cell subsets in infants without clinical vitamin A deficiency...

..We took advantage of this "natural experiment" to test the effect on mortality of receiving OPV at birth...

..It seems likely that by pursuing these inconsistent observations, vitamin A supplementation programmes can be optimised...

..If these observations reflect a general pattern, it may be that, in order to be treated equally, boys and girls should be treated differently...

..Recent zinc/folic acid (FA) and iron supplementation trials did not find any beneficial effects on mortality. We reviewed the studies for evidence of a negative interaction between zinc/folic acid/iron and DTP vaccination in girls...

..To investigate the effect of vitamin A supplementation and BCG vaccination at birth in low birthweight neonates...

..However, it is unknown whether the effect of VAS is independent of vaccinations. One of the original VAS trials from Ghana had collected vaccination information...

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..08 for equal effect of VAS in the two sexes if DTP is the last vaccine). The explanation for the lack of beneficial effect in our setting may have been that VAS at birth interacted negatively with subsequent DTP vaccinations in girls...

..To investigate the effect of high dose vitamin A supplementation given with BCG vaccine at birth in an African setting with high infant mortality...

..We assessed the effect of VAS administered with different vaccines during national immunization days (NIDs)...

..To determine whether the dose of vitamin A currently recommended by the World Health Organization or half this dose gives better protection against childhood morbidity and mortality...

..Using this algorithm, telephone interviews can be used to diagnose atopic dermatitis in young children in large-scale epidemiological investigations...

..Only in this way can we assure that the children in the poorest countries get the best possible treatment and avoid using large amounts of money and resources on interventions which may, in worst case, kill them...

..03). The authors found no overall effects of exclusive or partial breastfeeding on the risk of atopic dermatitis. However, the effect of exclusive breastfeeding for 4 months or more depended on parental history of allergic diseases...

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..To determine whether early infectious diseases could explain the association between number of siblings and other markers of microbial exposure and the development of atopic dermatitis before the age of 18 months...

..8 (0.4-1.7), p for interaction = 0.001]. Thus, high Na/K levels in the breast milk may be associated with the development of atopy and atopic diseases in the offspring of atopic mothers...

..The sequence is not always respected. We examined in-hospital mortality of children having received DTP with or after measles vaccine...

..The authors examined the effect of DTP in a cohort of low birthweight (LBW) infants...

..The 2-fold increase in female mortality after high-titer measles vaccine may have occurred because many children received diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine or inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) after high-titer measles vaccine...

..As background information, we examined sex- and age-specific mortality patterns in the pre-vaccination era. Subjects In all, 626 female-male twin pairs identified between 1978 and 2000...

..None of these studies had complete information on DTP vaccinations from both survivors and children who died. We reviewed the data analysis methodology to assess whether methodological differences could explain the divergent results...

..We examined whether this could be because of methodological differences...

..Prophylactic vitamin A supplementation (VAS) reduces mortality and may reduce morbidity associated with diarrhea in children >6 months of age. Rotavirus is the most common cause of acute dehydrating diarrhea among children worldwide...

..To determine whether BCG revaccination at 19 months of age reduces overall child mortality...

..Low-birth-weight (LBW) children are not given BCG at birth in Guinea-Bissau; we conducted a randomized trial of BCG at birth (early BCG) vs delayed BCG...

..In Denmark, the live vaccine against smallpox was phased out in the 1970s due to the eradication of smallpox. We used the phasing-out period to investigate the effect of smallpox vaccination on the risk of hospitalization for infections...

..To estimate how risk of acute respiratory infection (ARI) hospitalization in children attending childcare facilities with a recently (within 1 month) hospitalized child is affected by gender, age and other characteristics...

..We propose that the effect of vitamin A supplementation may depend on the amplification of non-specific effects of vaccines on childhood mortality...

..This study examined whether atopic disposition, wheezing, and atopic disorders increased the risk of hospitalizations because of respiratory syncytial virus in children between birth and 18 months of age...

..In 2007, whilst conducting a trial of BCG and vitamin A supplementation (VAS) at birth to low birthweight (LBW) children, OPV was again lacking for a short period. We used this natural experiment to test the previous observations...

..Live vaccines including BCG and measles may have non-targeted beneficial effects on childhood survival in areas with high mortality. The authors therefore undertook a survey of vaccinia scars to evaluate subsequent mortality...

..28 (0.06-1.37) in the first month, and 0.27 (0.07-0.98) after 2 months of age. The mortality rate ratio was 0.41 (0.14-1.18) (P = 0.098) in infancy. Administration of BCG vaccine at first contact may contribute to lower mortality...

..Recent studies from West Africa suggest that routine vaccinations may have sex differential nontargeted effects. To answer whether these patterns are found elsewhere, we reanalyzed data about vaccinations and mortality in a Malawian cohort...

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..We conducted a post-hoc analysis to test the hypothesis that neonatal VAS primes the response to subsequent vitamin A...

..The study aimed to investigate long-term consequences of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) positive acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRI) in a low-income country according to severity of the initial infection...

..Control for background factors had no impact on the estimate. In areas with high mortality, OPV administered alone may have non-specific beneficial effects or DTP may have a negative effect for children who had received both DTP and OPV...

..Although the present study had very limited representation of the genetic variation with potential for modification of the response to VAS, it adds to the efforts of untangling the diverse effects and impact of VAS...

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..The VAS effect differed significantly between the BCG and DTP windows (P = 0.03), and the difference was borderline significant between the DTP and MV windows for girls (P = 0.09)...

..7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.6) were associated with asthma during the fifth year of life. CONCLUSION: The composition of the maternal vaginal micro-flora might be associated with wheezing and asthma in the offspring up to 5 years of age...

..The immunological effects of combining the 2 treatments are unknown...

..BCG vaccination and a positive tuberculin reaction were associated with a lower prevalence of anergy to both tuberculin and diphtheria-tetanus. Thus, BCG vaccination may contribute to better cell-mediated immune responses among infants...

..The EZ vaccine was less sensitive to maternal antibodies, and able to increase the antibody response by revaccination, while the second SW vaccine resulted in an unchanged or lower antibody response...

..Despite twinning being common in Africa, few prospective twin studies have been conducted. We studied twinning rate, perinatal mortality and the clinical characteristics of newborn twins in urban Guinea-Bissau...

..We found significant differences in the production of cytokines between venous and capillary blood. Such differences should be taken into account when setting up immuno-epidemiological studies...

..During a recent armed conflict in Guinea-Bissau, we observed a marked decline in the case fatality among hospitalized children at the only paediatric department in the country...