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We evaluated sex, age, nutritional status, and infectious disease (ID) as predictors of two biomarkers of cell‐mediated immunity (CMI), delayed‐type hypersensitivity to Candida albicans (DTH‐Candida), and anti‐Epstein‐Barr virus antibody (EBV Ab), among 200 children in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. DTH‐Candida, which decreases with compromised CMI, was positively associated with age (OR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.57) and triceps skinfold (TSF; OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.26), and inversely associated with height‐for‐age Z score (HAZ; OR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.08) and diagnosed ID (OR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.22, 1.08). There was significant interaction between TSF and ID: DTH‐Candida exhibited a strong inverse association with ID among children with low TSF (OR: 0.16; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.50) and a strong positive association with TSF among children with ID (OR: 2.64; 95% CI: 1.29, 5.42). EBV Ab, which increases with compromised CMI, was inversely associated with male sex (β: −0.47; 95% CI: −0.70, −0.24) and TSF (β: −0.04; 95% CI: −0.08, 0.00), and positively associated with HAZ (β: 0.06; 95% CI: −0.03, 0.15). Among males, EBV Ab was positively associated with anemia. Among normal HAZ children, EBV Ab was inversely associated with TSF. There was no association between DTH‐Candida and EBV Ab. While DTH‐Candida provides a direct measure of CMI, our results suggest that interpretation of EBV‐Ab among Kilimanjaro children was complicated by its indirect relationship with CMI. Among our sample, CMI increased with age and adequate nutrition and was compromised during acute ID. The suggestive CMI‐compromising effect of increasing height‐for‐age may bear further exploration. Am J Phys Anthropol 151:183–190, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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