Seroprevalance of Rubella Antibodies Among Pregnant Women in a Regional Maternity Hospital in Eastern Turkey

Abstract

Introduction: Rubella infection in pregnancy may cause severe complications, including still birth, miscarriage, preterm labor, growth deficiency, congenital malformation, blindness, cardiac defects, central nervous system abnormalities, and congenital cataract and hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of rubella in pregnant women presenting to our hospital for routine antenatal examination, to compare our results with those from other countries, and to contribute to the literature by discussing opinions concerning rubella screening in pregnancy with data from 27.465 patients. Material and Methods: This retrospective study involved anti-rubella IgM and IgG screening results of pregnants in the first trimester, aged 17-45 and presented to our hospital for antenatal examination between 2013 and 2016. Data were collected from the hospital's electronic records system and patient files. Rubella antibody levels were determined using commercially available ELISA kits (ALISEI SEAC, Italy) in the medical microbiology laboratory. Anti-rubella IgM-positive cases were also evaluated using the avidity test. The results were analyzed using the SPSS v.15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) data analysis system. Results: Rubella IgM antibody positivity was determined in 205 (0.8%) of 27.465 pregnants whose anti-rubella IgM status was investigated, and positive values were observed in 16.526 (9.2%) of 17.186 cases subjected to anti-rubella IgG antibody analysis. Anti-rubella avidity tests revealed high avidity in 92.7% of patients, low avidity in 3.4%, and intermediate avidity in 3.9%. Conclusion: We think that rubella screening during pregnancy is essential, and that the best means of reducing the adverse effects of rubella virus would be to provide full immunization before pregnancy for females of child-bearing age.

Evaluation of Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella virus and Cytomegalovirus Infections in Pregnant Women

“…[30] When the studies on rubella virus seroprevalence in pregnant women in Turkey were evaluated, the lowest rubella IgG positivity with a rate of 86.6% was in Van and the highest seropositivity with a rate of 97.5% was in Isparta (Table 1). [14,17,20,22,23,28,[31][32][33][34][35][36] In this study, rubella IgG seropositivity rate which is 91.7% was a little lower than that of regional data, however, it is consistent with overall data in our country. Our results reveal that there is a rubella virus-responsive pregnant with a rate of 8%.…”

“…[37] In studies on CMV IgG seropositivity rates in pregnant women in Turkey, the rate was generally more than 90% (Table 1). [14,[20][21]23,28,[32][33][34][35][38][39][40] In this study, while CMV IgG seropositivity was 99.3%, IgM seropositivity was 14.7%. These results reveal that most of the women of childbearing age face CMV before pregnancy.…”

Frequency of TORCH infection among the donor population in the republican center for blood transfusion

“…On the other hand, the prevalence of RUV infection in developed countries has been few due to vaccination programs, but in several countries ranging from 83.4% to 97.9%, for example, India (83.4%) [3], southern Italy (85.8%) [11], Turkey (96.3%) [3] and Nigeria (97.9%) [8]. The results of our study showed that Anti-Rubella-IgG was detected in 97.8% of donors, indicating the success of the vaccination program.…”

“…Transmission of clinically significant CMV infection is high by blood transfusion or organ transplantation, which means that CMV is transmitted by contact with body fluids [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. In response to the entry of cytomegalovirus (CMV) into the body, a reimmune reorganization develops in the body.…”

The Screening of Rubella Virus, Cytomegalovirus, Hepatitis B Virus, and Toxoplasma gondii Antibodies in Prepregnancy and Reproductive-Age Women in Tabriz, Iran

“…On the other hand, the prevalence of RUV infections in developed countries has been few due to vaccination programs. Previous studies have reported the seroprevalence of RUV in prepregnancy and reproductive-age women in several countries ranging from 83.4 to 97.9%, for example, India (83.4%) [ 18 ], southern Italy (85.8%) [ 19 ], Turkey (96.3%) [ 20 ], and Nigeria (97.9%) [ 21 ]. The results of our study revealed that 89.4% of the women had anti-RUV IgG antibodies and also 0.5% had Rubella IgM.…”