Gender Differences in the Level of Antibodies to Measles Virus in Adults

P Mikhail Kostinov,M Аnton Kostinov,V Cyrill Mashilov,I Pavel Zhuravlev,A Alexey Ryzhov,N Nikolay Filatov,B Valentina Polishchuk,M Аristitsa Kostinova,E Anna Vlasenko,D Anna Shmitko

doi:10.3390/vaccines9050494

Abstract

Individuals without a protective antibody level are susceptible to measles infection. There are differences in the persistence of antibodies after vaccination and infection, while the impact of gender on this process has not been sufficiently studied. Measles Ig G antibodies were measured in 1742 employees of a large hospital facility—403 men and 1339 women aged from 25 to 67 years; 15% participants had antibody levels less than the protective threshold of ≥0.18 IU/mL. Significant differences were found in the age group 40–49, where the level of IgG antibodies to measles among men was higher than among women (1.51 IU/mL (0.41; 3.38) vs. 0.70 IU/mL (0.22;1.98) respectively, (U = 3.2, p = 0,001)); in the age group 60 and older, by contrast, the level of antibodies among women was higher compared to men (3.29 IU/mL (1.72; 4.07) vs. 2.90 IU/mL (1.46; 3.53) respectively (U = 2.2, p = 0.03)). The proportion of seronegative women in the age group 40–49 was significantly higher than of seronegative men: 22 [18–26]% and 11 [6–18]% respectively (χ2 = 7.0, p = 0.001). The revealed gender characteristics that affect persistence of measles immunity may be important in personalization of vaccinal prevention for men and women.

Highlights

Before active universal vaccination, the incidence of measles was very high and ranked first among airborne infections among children of early age
Among men, a loss of protective antibody levels is observed in a shorter time period and high susceptibility to tick-borne encephalitis virus remains, and infection occurs more often compared to women [10]
Immunization is recommended for all people under 35 years who have not suffered from measles, have not been vaccinated at all, or have been vaccinated once and who have no information about previous vaccinations against measles; in the case of an unfavorable epidemiological situation that has been observed in recent years, people under 55 years of age are vaccinated

Summary

Introduction

The incidence of measles was very high and ranked first among airborne infections among children of early age. After vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis, a significantly more expressed immune response in the dynamics of virus-neutralizing antibodies to virus strains accumulation was revealed among women of all age groups in comparison with men [9]. Among men, a loss of protective antibody levels is observed in a shorter time period and high susceptibility to tick-borne encephalitis virus remains, and infection occurs more often compared to women [10]. The detection of such differences can contribute to the improvement of vaccination tactics in order to increase the immune layer for this infection, and men or women, depending on the result, can be attributed to infection risk groups with other categories of patients with health abnormalities [11,12,13,14,15]

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