Antibody prevalence against rubella among hospital personnel in Nigeria: implications for health care system and immunisation policy

Abstract

Among 385 sera from Nigerian hospital personnel aged 15-39 years, 289 (75%) had an antibody titer corresponding to immunity against rubella, compared with 346 (90%) of the sera from Swedish women of the same age group. The frequency of high immune level against rubella did not change with age among Nigerians compared with a decrease in immunity with increasing age in the Swedish individuals. This probably is due to the differences between the dynamics of the development of natural immunity and immunity acquired through vaccination. In Nigeria, socio-economic factors were related with the degree of immune responses while sex was not. The results highlight the importance of immunization among hospital personnel and eventual vaccination of the whole population in Nigeria and the continuous surveillance of rubella immunity and periodic re-evaluation of immunization policies.