SEROEPIDMIOLOGY OF RUBELLA AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN AHWAZ, IRAN

Rubella is a viral disease which is mostly observed in children and teenagers. Infection in early pregnancy may cause sever derangement in fetus. In order to determine the prevalence of immunity to rubella in pregnant women of Ahwaz city, specific antibody against rubella assessed with Elisa method in 250 serum samples of pregnant women of different age groups residing in Ahwaz. The result showed that 8% of these women were sensitive and 92% were immune to rubella. %95 confidence interval for immune women was %88.6-%95.4. The percentage of immune women were 92.8 and 90.7 in houholds and employers, respectively. There was no significant difference between immune housholds and employers. In conclusion with regarding to the high immunity of pregnant women to rubella virus infection, public vaccination against rubella is not recommended in Ahwaz city. However, immune status in premarriage wemen or at least before their pregnancies should be determined so that in case of their sensivity, they would be vaccinated against rubella.