Growth, infection, and humoral immunity in children who are HIV exposed and uninfected.

Authors

Romeo Djounda, Modeste R Ngamaleu, Awanakam Honore, Moritz Schmiedeberg, Kevine Tchamda, Martial Tsague, Eva Gutenkunst, Jude Bigoga, Rose Leke, Charles Kouanfack, Micheal Besong, Krystelle Nganou-Makamdop, Forgu Esemu Livo

Published in

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology. Volume 16. Pages 1816838. Epub Jul 09, 2026.

Abstract

Children who are HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) show greater morbidity and mortality than HIV-unexposed children (HUU). In this study we investigate sex differences in growth, infection rates and antibody response among HEU and HUU infants.
The study enrolled 107 pregnant women with HIV and 103 pregnant women without HIV with follow-up of their infants from birth to 12 months of age. Study measures assessed included growth parameters, the prevalence of children with overt disease symptoms as reported by the mother, PCR-based assessment of infections (cytomegalovirus (CMV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, influenza A & B, rotavirus and malaria) as well as antibody profile to CMV, RSV and enterovirus infections.
Compared to male HUU, male HEU infants had higher stunting at month 3 (0% vs 17.4%; P = 0.01) and month 12 (12.5% vs 38.9%; P = 0.03). Additionally, they showed transiently lower Weight-for-age-z-scores at 3 months (1.07 vs 0.05, P = 0.04), with higher risk of rhinorrhea (RR = 2.29, P = 0.02) and lower enterovirus titers at birth (P = 0.0066). Female HEU showed transiently higher stunting at 6 months (0% vs 21%; P = 0.01) and lower CMV viremia at 6 months, with elevated CMV antibody titers at 3 months (P = 0.04) compared to female HUU. With prevalence ranging from 25%-61%, CMV and Rhinovirus infections were dominant in all groups. HEU and HUU exhibited similar antibody decay and acquisition patterns for CMV, RSV, and Enterovirus.
Overall, HEU and HUU infants showed similar growth, infection and humoral immune profiles. However, exploratory analyses identified transient sex-specific differences, with male HEU infants displaying poorer growth trajectories and selected infection-related vulnerabilities, highlighting the need for larger studies to clarify sex-dependent effects of in utero exposure to HIV/ART.

PMID:
42494849
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.