Investigation of Rubella antibodies among women of childbearing age in Sanliurfa province: An evaluation of three years period

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate seroprevalanceof antibodies against rubella virus that maylead to congenital infection among women of fertility ageas a risk group that referred to anl urfa Women’s Healthand Maternity Hospital in the period between 01.01.2007and 31.12.2009.Materials and methods: The results of 13.037 of rubellaIgM and 12.134 of rubella IgG antibodies that investigatedin the sera samples, by using the methods chemiluminescenseimmunoassay and electrochemiluminescence, obtainedfrom the women in fertility age that referred to thehospital with various complaints. Results were evaluatedby classifying in five age subgroups in terms of negative,border line and positive according to the manufacturer’sdescription.Results: Totally, 13.037 women in the age range of 15-49 years (average age 28.35±7.48 years) were evaluated.Negative, positive and border line ratios of therubella IgM antibodies were found as 98.1%, 1.7% and0.2%, respectively. Rubella IgG seropositivity was 94.1%whereas its seronegativity rate was 5.9%. The highestrate of rubella IgG seropositivity was found in the 35-44years age group. In comparison to the other age groups,this would be considered significantly high except up to49 age group (p<0.001). Rubella IgG seropositivity wasfound only in 221 patients (1.7%). The highest seropositivityrate was found in the age range of 35-44, and thishigh rate was statically significant except that in the agegroup of 25-34 (p<0.001).Conclusion: Because of the rubella seropositivity washigh in this province, it might be concluded that scanningof the antibodies to rubella in women living in anl urfawas unnecessary. However, considering of the problemsdue to the infection during pregnancy, antibodies to rubellashould be scanned in women that not vaccinated inthe childhood age or previously not have the disease, andthey should be offered the vaccination.