Need for protection against rubella in India.

Reports from different parts of India highlight the existence of Rubella leading to fetal malformations and wastage. However, the need for routine immunization to control rubella has not been duly recognized. In the present study the prevalence of rubella was determined in different age groups of the population by estimating IgG antibodies to rubella virus using ELISA kit obtained from Diamedix. Two hundred and seventy four pairs of maternal blood samples were collected. Samples were also obtained from one hundred and thirty nine children aged 1-15 years and assayed for rubella antibodies. The sample was read as positive if the Elisa unit/ml was 15 EU/ml. The results showed that 94.9% of mothers and 94.1% of cord blood samples showed seropositivity. Children between 1 and 5 years showed the lowest seropositivity of 69.2% which gradually increased to reach near 95% levels by 15 years. These observations indicate the prevalence of rubella in children and thus suggest the need to protect susceptible women of reproductive age group.