Vacinação antivariólica em crianças menores de seis meses

Abstract

The author presents the results of smallpox vaccination of 220 children under six months of age and the follow-up of 200 vaccines, 47 of them only one month old

Lyophilized vaccine produced by Instituto Oswaldo Cruz of the Ministry of Health and Instituto de Pesquisas Biológicas of the Secretary of Health of the State of Rio Grando do Sul, was used. THe vaccination was perfomred with bifurcated needles and an average of 10 days after vaccination. No side effects were observed and fever above 38 degrees Centigrade was present only in those cases where smallpox vaccine had been combined with DPT and Sabin vaccine

Among the conclusions, the author points out advantages and good results from early smallpox vaccination with no contraindications; the antibody formation capability of young children, notwithstanding the possibility that manternal antibodies might have been transmitted to them; the overall acceptance of the procedure by physicians and auxiliary personnel and by the families involved(AU)