Primary response to tetanus toxoid stimulation in early infancy

: The authors attempt to evaluate the degree of immune response to the first dose of anti-tetanus vaccination in young infants and to study the correlation between maternal and infantile antitetanus antibody titers. The sample studied comprised 5 males and 5 females aged between 61 and 75 days old, without acute and/or chronic pathologies and uncircumsized. Three samples of peripheral venous blood were collected for each infant: 1 at time 0, and the other two during the 15 days after the administration of the first dose of tetanus toxoid. The results support the hypothesis that vaccinal stimulation has a greater effect on cellular rather than humoral immunity, causing an increase in the CD4/CD8 ratio and a decrease in CD16. The study confirms that women with high antitetanus antibody titers during pregnancy have children with protective antibody titers. This underlines the importance of vaccinating pregnant women who, for various reasons, have not been immunised so as to prevent infantile tetanus and to allow the possibility of delaying, if necessary, the administration of the first dose of toxoid in infants without the risk of short-term toxoinfection.