ABSTRACT
Introduction: Primary maternal rubella virus infectionduring the first trimester of pregnancy carries a high risk fordevelopment of congenital rubella syndrome. According tothe estimate of World Health Organization, worldwide morethan 100,000 children are born with CRS each year. Mostof these children are born in developing countries. Severalguidelines suggest routine rubella serology testing in womentrying for pregnancy. Objectives: This study was conductedto assess immunity (seroprevalence) to rubella among Indianwomen of childbearing age attending subfertility clinic and toobserve the trend over the years.Material and methods: Women attending subfertility clinichad serum sample tested to determine the seropositivityas part of subfertility work up. Rubella seropositivity wasdetermined by estimating IgG antibodies to rubella virus usingCLIA method.Results: The study period was from January 2011 to December2018. Three hundred and seventy seven women were testedfor estimation of Rubella IgG. Overall seronegativity was29.4%. Interestingly this seronegativity rate was very similarover the study period, demonstrating overall nearly one-thirdof the subfertile women were susceptible to rubella.Conclusion: These observations indicate high rubellasusceptibility among women in the childbearing age grouptrying for pregnancy. There is a need for detection ofseroprevalence in subfertile population in Eastern India; sothat appropriate vaccination can prevent this preventabletragedy of perinatal / neonatal morbidity. Further study isneeded to determine the magnitude of problem in other settings(Government hospital, rural population, low socioeconomicstatus).