Prevalence of HI antibody titer against rubella virus to determine the effect of mass vaccination in Tehran.

BACKGROUND Rubella is an infectious viral disease, has a worldwide distribution and is normally a mild childhood disease. Infection during early pregnancy may cause fetal death or congenital rubella syndrome. The highest risk of CRS is found in countries with high susceptibility rates among women of childbearing age. In many developed and some developing countries, large-scale rubella vaccination during the past decade has drastically reduced or practically eliminated rubella and CRS. Mass vaccination campaigns and Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) have increased vaccine coverage in the world with a substantial impact on the reduction of rubella infections, such as CRS. OBJECTIVE The present study was preformed to evaluate the immune status against rubella before and after the mass campaign vaccination on 22 December 2003. STUDY DESIGN A total of 320 samples were collected from the healthy subjects before and after the vaccination and 80 paired sera were collected and tested for the presence of rubella antibody using HI test. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, 98.1% of the population has gained anti-rubella antibody, compared with 92.2% before the vaccination. The data revealed that 98.75% of the paired subjects had rubella antibody after mass vaccination which is statistically significant.