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Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 1998 44(5):304-307; doi:10.1093/tropej/44.5.304
© 1998 by Oxford University Press
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Immune Recovery of Malnourished Children Takes Longer than Nutritional Recovery: Implications for Treatment and Discharge

P. Chevalier*,, R. Sevilla**, E. Sejas**, L. Zalles**, G. Belmonte** and G. Parent*

*Laboratoire Nutrition Tropicale ORSTOM, BP 5045, 34032 Montpellier Cedex, France
**IIBISMED, Facultad de Medicina UMSS, Casilla 3119, Cochabamba, Bolivia

Ph Chevalier, Laboratoire Nutrition Tropicale. ORSTROM. BP 5045, 34032 Montpellier Cedex, France. Tel. 00 33 4 67 41 61 92; Fax. 00 33 4 67 54 78 00. E-mail chevalie{at}mpl.orstom.fr

Protein-energy malnutrition decreases cellular immunity yet immune recovery has rarely been investigated during nutritional rehabilitation. Malnourished children from low income families of Cochabamba (Bolivia) were hospitalized for 2 months in the Center for Immune and Nutritional Rehabilitation (CRIN), of the German Urquidi Materno-Infantil Hospital. They received a special four-step diet Nutritional status was determined by a daily clinical examination and weekly anthropometric measurements. Immune status was assessed by weekly ultrasonography of the thymus. The classical criterion for discharge (90 per cent of median reference weight for height) was reached after the first month, whereas a 2-month period was required for complete immunologic recovery. The children belonged to disadvantaged population groups with high exposure to disease. In such an environment, discharge based only on nutritional status after 1 month of treatment could explain frequent relapses because the children were still immunodepressed.


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E. Sejas, P. Kolsteren, T. Hoeree, and D. Roberfroid
Iron Supplementation in Previously Anemic Bolivian Children Normalized Hematologic Parameters, But Not Immunologic Parameters
J Trop Pediatr, June 1, 2008; 54(3): 164 - 168.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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