ANTI-TETANUS IMMUNOGLOBULIN ISOTYPES IN WOMEN OF CHILDBEARING AGE

Neonatal tetanus (NT) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality in many parts of the world. Tetanus is a vaccine-preventable disease and is second only to measles worldwide as a cause of childhood mortality. In this study the various irnrnunoglobulin classes of anti-tetanus antibody in the sera of 105 Iranian women of childbearing age (13-45 years) were titrated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Our results demonstrate that the majority of women (96.29%) had protective anti-tetanus toxoid antibody. All women were negative for 19E. 92.39%, 91.43% and 80.96% of women were found to be positive for IgG, IgA and IgM, respectively. Therefore, with respect to lack of protective anti-tetanus antibody in a minority of women, our results suggest that this group might be at risk of tetanus disease and if they get pregnant, need to be vaccinated against tetanus in order to produce sufficient Ab for their own protection and to provide their fetuses with anti-tetanus antibody.