Surveillance of antibodies to rubella virus in school girls in Kaliobiya

ABSTRACT

This study was undertaken to determine the level of rubella virus antibodies in school girls at puberty stage [age 10-14 years], in kaliobiya. A total of 350 sera were examined for rubella specific I[g]g antibodies by ELISA test. The sero positivity was considered when anti rubella I[g]g titre was more than 10 iu/ml. It was found that the sero negativity rate among school girls was high [36%]. The sero positive girls [64%] were variable in their detectable antibodies titre as 24.2% of them showed low titre [10-50 iu/ml], 19.6% showed moderate titre [50-100 iu/ml] while 56.2% showed high titre [> 100 iu/ml]. Also, it was observed that the sero negativity percentage decreased with age as it delclined from 50% at age of 10 years to 21.7% at age of 14 years. We concluded that the level of anti rubella I[g]g antibodies was low in high percentage of school girls and mandatory screening of all girls at puberty prior to marriage must be practiced. Egyptian health authorities should evaluate the policy of integration of rubella vaccine into the expanded program on immunization