Objectives HIV-infected children have poor responses to inactivated influenza vaccines. Live vaccines (LAIVs) are highly efficacious in children, but they are not used in HIV-infected children du e to limited information. We investigated the safety, immunogenicity and viral shedding of LAIV4 in HIV-infected compared with uninfected children. Design Forty-six HIV-infected and 56 uninfected children 2 to 25 years old, who had been previously vaccinated against influenza, consented to receive a single dose of LAIV4. All grade adverse events (AEs) were recorded in the first month post-vaccination and serious AEs (SAEs) throughout the influenza season. Nasopharyngeal swabs for influenza PCR and IgA ELISA and blood for hemagglutination inhibition antibody (HAI) measurements were collected at entry, 2–5, 7–10 and 21–28 days post-vaccination. Results The HIV-infected subjects had median CD4+ cells of 649 cells/μL and plasma HIV RNA of 20 copies/mL. AEs were similar in the two groups. There were no vaccine-related SAEs. Shedding of ≥1 vaccine virus was detected in 67% HIV-infected and 50% uninfected participants ( p = 0.14). HAI titers did not appreciably change, but mucosal IgA antibodies significantly increased post-vaccination in both groups. High baseline HAI and IgA antibody concentrations were associated with decreased viral shedding in controls, but not in HIV-infected subjects. Similar proportions of HIV-infected vaccinees and controls reported influenza-like illnesses (12% and 6%) throughout the season. Conclusions LAIV4 was equally safe and immunogenic and caused similar viral shedding in HIV-infected and uninfected children. A correlate of protection against vaccine viral shedding was not identified in HIV-infected participants, although both circulating and mucosal antibodies correlated with protection in controls.
