Seroprevalence of rubella among Turkish women and children in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.

The objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of rubella virus infection among women and female children/youth (0- 17-years-old) in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. This study was conducted between November 2005 and February 2006. One thousand four hundred nine serum specimens were studied by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Age, educational level, economic and marital status, smoking habit, application or not of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination, and previous skin rash of the patients included in the study were questioned and noted. Positive rubella-specific IgG antibodies prevalence was found as 18.5% in girls between 0-1 years of age, 28.6% in girls between 2-6 years of age, 36.8% in girls between 7-17 years of age, and 80.0%, 80.9%, 78.5%, 73.7% and 78.1% in women between 18-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 50+ years of age, respectively. There were no statistically significant correlations between immunity to rubella and other sociodemographic characteristics. In conclusion, nearly 20% of women of reproductive age are sensitive to rubella and should be vaccinated. The clear effects of adding MMR to the routine vaccination schedule will be observed in the following years in Turkey.