Rubella Immunity as Related to Age and History of Overt Disease

Abstract

The development of tissue culture techniques for the cultivation of rubella virus and for the detection of neutralizing antibody in patients with rubella [lo, 181, followed by the demonstration that rubella could be transmitted only to subjects who did not have neutralizing antibody, individuals with pre-existing antibody being immune [l, 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 161, made it possible to determine the frequency of susceptibility to rubella in different populations.Sever et al. [15] found that 18 % of 600 women 1 P 4 4 years old from different parts of the United States did not have neutralizing antibody against rubella virus, a higher incidence of susceptibility demonstrated in the negro (21 yo) than in the white women (14 %). A sample from Honolulu, Hawaii, revealed 44 % without antibody. The frequency of antibody was not significantly associated with histories of rubella. Dudgeon et al. [3] found 9 seronegative specimens among 50 cord bloods (18 %) from a London obstetric hospital and 6 seronegative among 25 cord bloods (24 %) from Kampala, the This study was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project No. 19x-762-01) and by the County Council of Sodermanlend. capital of Uganda. Further studies by Sever et al. [13] showed that 60 % of 228 pregnant women in Hawaii had no antibody to rubella. Nagayama et al. [9] found 35 % seronegative among 193 serum specimens from pregnant women 18-40 years of age in Fukuoka city and its suburbs in Southern Japan.Givan et al.[4] studied small groups of females of different age in Toronto, Canada, and found neutralizing rubella antibody in about 10 % of children up to 4 years increasing to about 80 Yo in those 35-40 years old. These tests were performed with a serum dilution of 1 : 6. It was also reported that the incidence of females with higher antibody levels (a titre of a t least 24) reached a peak of more than 50 % in the age group 15-19 years falling to 20 % in those 35-40 years old. Sever et al. [14] determined the frequency of antibody in serum specimens from 268 individuals in Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S.A., collected in 1957. The frequency of serological immunity increased from approximately 35 yo in children 1-10 years of age to 85 % in the group 16 years and older.

Congenital Perceptive Deafness: Role of Intrauterine Rubella

“…In practice, this usually means between the ages of 6 months and 3 to 4 years. Lundstrom et al (1967) found no antibody in normal 2-year-old children but it was present in 140/, of children aged 5. Our more recent findings in randomly selected control children under 4 years showed antibody present in 71 1,, compared with 56., in a previous control series (Butler et al, 1965).…”

A population-based case–control study on viral infections and vaccinations and subsequent multiple sclerosis risk

“…In 1982, a combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for administration at both 18 months and 12 years of age was introduced in Sweden as the first country in the world [23]. Before the introduction of these vaccination programmes more than 80% of Swedish children had a history of measles [24], and half of them a history of mumps and rubella [25,26]. The percentage of children with a history of measles declined to 12.5% in children born in 1975 and fell further to 5.5% in children born in 1978 following mass vaccinations.…”

Rubella Immunity of Pregnant Women in Stockholm

“…The frequency of NT antibody to rubella virus was the same among pregnant women applying for gamma globulin prophylaxis as in the control group, 87 yo. Within the control group, on the other hand, all 38 individuals who reported that they had evident in the younger age groups of the undergone rubella also had NT antibody Eskilstuna study [3] was obvious also in whereas 52 (79%) out of the 66 without the control group of normal pregnant rubella history were seroimmune. This dif-women in Stockholm.…”

“…tibility to rubella in females of fertile age is essential for estimation of the risk for maternal infection during pregnancy and for evaluation of the need for specific prophylaxis. Pregnant women in different parts of USA [6] and Great Britain [l, 21 as well as in Eskilstuna, Sweden [3] are reported to lack rubella neutralizing (NT) antibody in 5-20% and this incidence is apparently considerably higher in Hawaii I n this study the frequency of rubella NT antibody was determined in two groups of pregnant women in the city of Stockholm: those applying for gamma globulin prophylaxis due to exposure to rubella as well as a normal control group.…”