Prevalence of IgG Antibody Against Measles, Mumps and Rubella in Bangladeshi Children: A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Need for Integrated Vaccination Strategy

Abstract

The present study was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies in Bangladeshi children against measles (irrespective of vaccination status), mumps and rubella (MMR) to assess strategic need of combined vaccination for these diseases. A total of 456 children of 1 month to 15 years, were studied. Serum IgG antibodies against MMR were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). By 3 months, protective IgG antibody level (>40 AU for measles and mumps and >15 IU/ml for rubella) for the diseases found to be between 50% and 80% among the studied children. Protective measles antibody (IgG) was not detected in all the children of 3-9 months and significant number of children between 9 months and 5 years were unprotected (87-65%; P < 0.001). Moreover, children of 3-15 months had no protective antibody level against mumps and significant number of children between 15 months and 5 years were unprotected (92-71%; P < 0.001). Between 5 and 15 years of age, significant number of children became protective (63-85%, P < 0.001). Although, a majority of children between 3 months and 5 years had shown to have no protective antibody against rubella (89-71%; P < 0.01-0.001) between >10 and 15 years 71% children had protective level of antibodies (P < 0.001). No significant difference was observed in antibody prevalence regarding socioeconomic classes, nutritional status and parental education. The data showed that: (i) a significant number of children remain unprotected against MMR in childhood and (ii) an extensive nationwide survey is required to suggest an integrated vaccination strategy in order to implement appropriate control measures of the three infectious diseases.