Berlin. The type of birth influences the immune system. This is what studies have shown about the effectiveness of vaccinations in babies. An expert advises caution.
In Germany, every third child is now born by caesarean section. The Quota has doubled in the past 30 years. Gynecological societies explain that only around ten percent of all cesarean sections are medically necessary because the life of the mother or child is in danger.
A study by researchers at the Universities of Cambridge (Great Britain) and Fudan in Shanghai (China) now comes to the conclusion: One Caesarean section birth has disadvantages for children’s immune systems. The scientists compared the effectiveness of the measles vaccination in children born by cesarean section and in children born vaginally. Her Results was published in the journal “Nature Microbiology”.
According to the data, children born by caesarean section were about 2.6 times more likely to have the first dose of the measles vaccine be ineffective than children born “normally”. This means that the immune system Many cesarean section children did not produce antibodies to fight measles infection after the first vaccination. This was the case for more than one in ten children, according to the study authors.
Two doses recommended: Children should be vaccinated against measles between the ages of eleven and 14 months and between the ages of 15 and 23 months.
© ZRB | ZRB
As a result, these boys and girls stay even after the first Vaccination vulnerable to the highly contagious disease, which is transmitted via droplets. According to the study, only a second dose of vaccination triggered a robust immune response in them.
Caesarean section: probability of vaccination failure increased
To arrive at their results, the researchers from Cambridge and Shanghai used data from previous studies with over 1,500 children in Hunan (China). These were every few weeks from birth until the age of twelve Blood samples been taken. This made it possible to examine how the amount of measles antibodies in the blood changed in the first years of life, including after vaccination.
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“We should ensure that infants born by cesarean section receive their second measles vaccination. Because the probability that the first vaccination will fail is much greater,” concludes one of the main authors of the study, Professor Henrik Salje from the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge. “But we know that many children do not receive their second measles vaccination, which is dangerous for themselves and for the entire population.”
A measles infection can be serious Complications such as blindness, seizures and death. Before an effective vaccine was developed in 1963, there were major measles epidemics every few years, killing millions.
In Germany, according to current figures from the Techniker Krankenkasse, 85 percent of children born in 2020 are fully vaccinated, and 10.3 percent only have one by their second birthday Partial vaccination received, 4.7 percent were not vaccinated at all. The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), which issues recommendations on vaccinations in Germany, recommends a first vaccination as a measles-mumps-rubella combination vaccination for children aged eleven to 14 months. A second vaccination should be given between the ages of 15 and 23 months, at the earliest four weeks after the first vaccination.
Immune system: Important microbes from the birth canal
Going beyond the results on measles vaccination, Henrik Salje concludes from the study: The manner in which birth have long-term effects on immunity to disease. “We believe that cesarean section children need longer to develop their gut microbiome and therefore the immune system’s ability to defend itself against diseases such as measles through vaccinations.”
According to the Techniker Krankenkasse, there is still a vaccination gap for measles. Around 5 percent of small children are not vaccinated, around 10 percent only once.
© DPA Images | Tom Weller
The microbiome is the large collection of bacteria, which live naturally in the intestines. During a vaginal birth, it is believed that a greater variety of microbes are transmitted from mother to child, which can strengthen the immune system and defenses.
In a natural birth, the baby comes through the on its way birth canal intensively in contact with special maternal bacteria. It absorbs this through the mouth and nose. After a cesarean section, part of it is missing because it is lifted out of the germ-free uterus.
The rate of cesarean births has risen sharply
A team of researchers led by Prof. Debby Bogaert from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) who intensively examined the microbiome of 120 babies in their first month of life came to this conclusion. One half of the Babies was born by caesarean section and the other half was born naturally.
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As a result of their Study, published in March 2023 in the journal “Cell Host and Mocrobe”, the babies born by cesarean section were still missing specific ones even after a month Intestinal bacteria mother. The gaps were only gradually filled through skin contact or breast milk
A few months later, Debby Bogaert’s researchers also examined the children’s immune response to their first vaccinations. And here, too, the immune system of the children who had a cesarean section produced fewer antibodies, which was related to the missing bacterial strains in the microbiome. According to the scientists, this could also explain why cesarean section children continue to be born later more vulnerable are for diseases.