Evaluation of Immunity to Measles in a Cohort of Medical Students in Rome, Italy

Abstract

Background: Measles is a highly contagious viral disease with serious complications. Currently, in Italy, measles vaccination is not mandatory for health care workers (HCWs) and medical students, and the free offer of the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine is the only national prevention measure to increase the coverage rate among these subjects. Aims: The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact on vaccination rate of the National Plan of Vaccine Prevention (NPVP) implemented in 2017. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective observational study that evaluated the measles-specific IgG immunity status of medical students at the University Tor Vergata of Rome, which underwent occupational health surveillance from 1 January to 31 December 2018. Results: In 2018, 84 of 319 students (26.30%) were serologically non-immune to measles; among these, 16 (19%) had previously been vaccinated, and 35 of the remaining 68 students accepted the MMR vaccine. Therefore, 33 out of 319 students did not undergo vaccination in 2018. These data are similar to those obtained in the previous year. In the 2017 screening, 84/314 (26.75%) students tested negative at the serological screening, whereas 15/85 (17.8%) among them documented a previous vaccination with two doses of the MMR vaccine; 69 students tested as unprotected. Vaccine compliance was 51.44%. Conclusions: No change in vaccination coverage occurred after the introduction of the last NPVP. Further efforts are needed to sensitize target populations about the relevance of vaccination; providing pre-employment screening for measles and free vaccine might be useful for this purpose.

Prevalence and management of rubella susceptibility in healthcare workers in Italy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…After exclusion of duplicate articles in the two databases, there were nine eligible studies [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ( Table 1 ), of which eight were quantitative [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] and one was qualitative [18] . The remaining 88 studies did not match the inclusion criteria [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , ...…”

Seroprevalence for vaccine-preventable diseases among Italian healthcare workers

“…[17][18][19] Despite the above issue, suboptimal immunization rates for some relevant vaccine-preventable diseases were reported among Italian HCWs, including those operators employed in high-risk settings. 15,[20][21][22][23] Some seroprevalence studies, carried out in a group of large hospitals in central and northern Italy, have shown suboptimal immunization of healthcare workers against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B. 24,25 According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), HCWs are the most trusted source of information regarding their patients so their level of knowledge and confidence in vaccination practices can have a significant influence on the phenomenon of the so-called "vaccine hesitancy".…”

Rubella Immunity among Italian Female Healthcare Workers: A Serological Study

“…For this reason, occupational medicine ambulatories, according to the Italian laws, should promote the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR). In previous studies, suboptimal immunization rates for measles and mumps were found among HCWs, as shown by the decrease of protective antibody titre over years [17][18][19][20]. MMR is highly effective in preventing rubella, in fact 1-dose vaccine is effective in 95% of the cases and 2-dose vaccine effectiveness is 99% [21].…”