What do we need to eradicate rubella in the Islamic Republic of Iran?

Abstract

To evaluate the need for congenital rubella syndrome prevention in our national health programme we aimed to determine the rate of anti-rubella positivity in umbilical cord blood samples 8 years after measlesrubella mass vaccination in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a cross-sectional study we tested umbilical cord blood samples for anti-rubella IgG and IgM by ELISA in 154 deliveries at a university hospital in Tehran. Overall 72.7% of umbilical cord blood samples were positive for anti-rubella IgG and 27.3% were negative. All of the samples were negative for anti-rubella IgM. In the samples with a history of mothers' rubella vaccination, only 87.5% were positive for anti-rubella IgG. The results suggest the need for another mass vaccination for rubella in women of child-bearing age and continuation of routine vaccination of infants, plus consideration of obligatory anti-rubella IgG testing before pregnancy in women who were not vaccinated and vaccination of women before marriage. RÉSUMÉ Pour évaluer la nécessité d'intégrer la prévention du syndrome de rubéole congénitale dans notre programme de santé national, nous avons tenté de déterminer le taux de positivité aux anticorps antirubéoleux dans des échantillons de sang de cordon ombilical huit ans après la campagne de vaccination de masse contre la rougeole et la rubéole en