Rubella HI Antibody Research Articles

Rubella outbreak on Tokunoshima Island in 2004: Serological and epidemiological analysis of pregnant women with rubella

This paper presents the serological and epidemiological background of the rubella-infected pregnant women following the rubella outbreak throughout Tokunoshima Island that occurred after the revision of the immunization law in Japan. Twelve of 149 pregnant women managed in Miyagami Hospital were enrolled as having a high risk for congenital rubella infection. They were interviewed about their immunization history with rubella vaccine, the presence of rash, onset of rash, and the presence and timing of contact with rubella-infected patients. The obstetric histories were investigated for past rubella HI antibody titer. Nine of 12 women continued their pregnancy and delivered a baby. A serological test for rubella IgM antibody and a reversed transcription-nested PCR assay using umbilical cord blood and the newborn urine for virus genome detection were performed for all babies. We also enrolled all 309 mothers who delivered during the last 2 years in Miyagami Hospital, and retrospectively collected their rubella HI titers. Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) and congenitally infected babies were born from 12 high-risk mothers. In our study, six pregnant women to be immunized by a catch-up program showed a lack of immunity to rubella. The remaining six women had low rubella immunity. Nine acquired rubella from members of their family, including their husband. The incidence of negative HI titer was 25% in women less than 25 years old who delivered during the last 2 years in this hospital. More intensive immunization should be considered to eradicate CRS completely in Japan.

Radioimmunoprecipitation and immunoblot studies of antibodies to rubella virus in patients with chronic liver disease.

Patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis (AICAH) and some other chronic liver disorders often have very high titres of rubella HI antibodies. In the present study sera from 46 patients with chronic liver disease and controls were examined for rubella antibodies using radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) and Western blot. RIPA appeared to be more suitable than Western blot for the study of the individual antibody specificities provided that proteins (possibly actin) interfering with the resolution of the E2 glycoprotein band are identified. It was shown that patients with high rubella HI titres reacted strongly against the E1 glycoprotein and in general also against the core protein (C). Reactivity to the E2 glycoprotein was detected with all sera from patients with chronic liver disease but varied more in strength. Three patients with post-acute rubella showed very faint E2 reactivity, but strong E1 and C reactivities. Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis had normal HI titres and showed no increase in reactivity in RIPA. The present findings show that patients with chronic liver disease and high rubella HI antibody titres exhibit an enhanced specific antibody response to rubella virus structural proteins.

Parity and susceptibility to rubella in pregnant women in Japan.

AbstractThis study investigated how parity of women influence their susceptibility to rubella among 4,601 Japanese pregnant women. The greater part of these women had not received rubella vaccine. The prevalence rate of rubella HI antibody was generally the lowest in the nulliparous women and it also increased with increasing maternal parity.

Rubella infections of the school teachers in Sapporo Municipal schools after their employment

In Japan rubella occurs mostly in kindergarten and middle school students from 5 to 14 years of age. That is why it is presumed that school teachers of these age groups are at potential risk to be infected by this disease because of their close association with the children.Comparing prevalence rates of rubella HI antibody in females who were 21 years old or less and those aged 22 to 29 in 1983, about 87% of the first group (who had received the rubella vaccinations when they were 13 to 14 years old) were seropositive while the prevalence rate was low (about 70%) in the second group.School teachers in Sapporo Municipal schools were studied in October 1983 through questionnaires in order to investigate any special risk of their exposure to rubella. Among a total of 4, 165 school teachers aged under 40 years in 1983 in kindergarten, primary, middle and high schools in Sapporo, replies were obtained from 2, 412 of them (58%). A total of 2, 033 completed replies were analyzed, except those employed in 1983 when the rubella epidemic ceased. Among these 2, 033 school teachers, 932 had a history of rubella before employment, and 126 (6.2%) got rubella after employment. Among these 126 school teachers, 36 answered that they have suffered from rubella during the 1975-77 epidemic and 90 had it during the 1980-82 epidemic. The institute attack rates (%) were as follows: 11.3% (6 cases) in kindergarten, 6.5% (92 cases) in primary school, 5.4% (27 cases) in middle school and 1.5% (1 case) in high school; indicating higher attack rates among school teachers in the institutions for younger children, and a significant difference of the attack rates was obtained between kindergarten and high school. The increasing attack rate among staff in institutes for young school children showed a similar tendency in both epidemics, 1975-77 and 1980-82, compared with the attack rates of school-age children in the 1975-77 epidemic which was 26.4% in primary school, 15.3% in middle school and 2.9% in high shool.In view of these data, it was suggested that rubella infections of school teachers were associated with infected kindergarten and school children.

Relationship Between Life Stress Factors And Viral Antibody Levels In Patients With Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Serum specimens from 46 patients with JRA were tested for measles CF, HI, HLI, and RNP-GP antibodies, for rubella HI antibodies, and for adenovirus and herpes simplex virus CF antibodies. The mean antibody litres of the 16 JRA patients of the major conflict group (14) were generally higher than those of the 30 patients of the non-conflict group, although the differences do not reach the level of statistical significance. The interrelationships between life stress, emotions and immunological changes in JRA are discussed.

Rubella HI antibody titer prior to and after the epidemic in the same group and other viral infection in rubella epidemic (author's transl)

Rubella HI antibody titer prior to and after the epidemic in the same group and other viral infection in rubella epidemic (author's transl)

Relationship Between Life Stress Factors And Viral Antibody Levels In Patients With Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Serum specimens from 46 patients with JRA were tested for measles CF, HI, HLI, and RNP-GP antibodies, for rubella HI antibodies, and for adenovirus and herpes simplex virus CF antibodies. The mean antibody titres of the 16 JRA patients of the major conflict group (14) were generally higher than those of the 30 patients of the non-conflict group, although the differences do not reach the level of statistical significance. The interrelationships between life stress, emotions and immunological changes in JRA are discussed.

Clinical Experience with a Live Attenuated Rubella Virus Vaccine, Matsuba Strain GMK3SK60RK6, in Special Reference to 6-Year Follow-up of Rubella Antibodies and Prevention of Rubella Infection during an Epidemic

A live attenuated rubella virus vaccine, Matsuba strain GMK3SK60RK6 was the vaccine attenuated by 60 passages in swine kidney cell cultures and propagated in rabbit kidney cell cultures. This vaccine was inoculated to 46 children and 47 young adults in closed populations and to 340 young women in open populations. As contact control 32 cases were observed in closed populations. Rash occurred in one case and arthritis-arthralgia did in 5 cases among young women. There was not any evidence of communicability although vaccinees shedded the virus in pharynx. Seroconversion rate was 99 per cent and relatively stable rubella HI antibody titers were demonstrated in a follow-up study for 6 years. Thirty-two vaccinees experienced rubella epidemic in a high school in 1976 and were protected from natural rubella virus infection.

Congenital Rubella-Reply

In Reply .—A normal newborn infant is generally expected to have a rubella HI antibody titer comparable to that of its mother due to placental passage of maternal IgG antibodies. Dr Buchta's case demonstrates a well-recognized phenomenon observed in mature or postmature infants. These infants may be born with levels of IgG that are substantially higher than those of their mothers. 1.2 The precise causes of this concentration of antibody proteins in the infant circulation have not been established. Such placental concentration of antibody protein can result in the newborn rubella titer being twofold to fourfold higher than the corresponding maternal titer. Such elevations of rubella titers in these infants may occasionally raise the suspicion of congenital infection. The lack of persistence of the rubella HI antibody titer in Buchta's case, with the documented decrease in titer following the expected 30-day half-life of maternal IgG, however, supports his conclusion that

Role of rubella in congenital malformations in India.

In the present study rubella HI antibodies were determined in cases of congenital malformation and bad obstetric history to determine the role of rubella in such cases in India, as it has been reported to be rare in Japan in contrast to Western countries. The incidence of antibodies was statistically significant in cases of congenital eye, C.N.S., visceral and miscellaneous malformations and cases of spontaneous abortion and still-birth compared with controls of matching age groups. This is further supported by the demonstration of IgM antibodies in seven cases of congenital malformations and ten cases of spontaneous abortion. Our findings show that congenital rubella is not rare in India.

Early Results of an Extensive Rubella Epidemic

The extensive rubella epidemic which occurred in Israel in 1972, had a considerable impact on the population at risk: 1. The spread of rubella infection into the community strongly influenced the extent of legal abortions: (a) 1 x 5 as many abortions for all causes were recorded in the epidemic year, as compared to the average number recorded in the three-year pre-epidemic period; (b) about 20 per cent of all abortions were associated with a history of exposure to rubella in the first months of pregnancy. 2. The incidence of congenital rubella diagnosed up to six months from birth varies greatly: the attack rate was 11.8 per thousand live births in an area inhabited by a population whose religious belief generally prevented the practice of abortions, as opposed to a significantly lower rate of 1 x 7 per thousand in a population with a liberal approach to abortions. 3. Ten months after the epidemic subsided, the percentage of female subjects of childbearing age lacking rubella HI antibody was very similar to that found in the same age group, several years before the epidemic.

Follow-up studies of rubella vaccinees at adolescence.

This report provides the results of follow-up surveillance and postvaccination rubella HI antibody studies on adolescent girls in Cincinnati.

Frequency of rubella HI antibody among individuals in Iriomote island in 1970

Iriomote Island is located in southern end of the Ryukyu Islands and the population was 2500. Arubella epidemic occurred in 1965 and several babies with rubella syndrome were born there. We testedserum specimens obtained from 261 healthy individuals there in 1970 for rubella HI antibody.Rubella HI antibody was detected in 82%, 98%, 65%, 82%, and 90% in the age group 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, and more than 40, respectively.The characteristics of the seroepidemiological condition there were that 10% of the individualsmore than 40 years of age were thought still intact to rubella and another 10% of this age group hadhigh titers (≥1: 1024) of rubella HI antibody, and these were thought to be the cases of recent primaryor reinfection.

Purification of a Soluble Gel Precipitating Antigen of Rubella Virus and Antibody Responses to the Purified Antigen

A gel‐precipitating (GP) antigen was purified from rubella‐infected BHK‐21 cells. The purification procedure included DEAE‐cellulose chromatography and ultracentrifugations. The purified antigen also had CF antigen activity which represented about 10 per cent of the original amount of CF antigen in infected BHK‐cells. This GP antigen sedimented at about 3.5 S in sucrose gradient centrifugations and equilibrated at about 1.30 g/ml in CsCl gradient centrifugations. Immunization of guinea pigs with this antigen resulted in the production of rubella GP antibodies as well as HI and CF antibodies to purified rubella virus. The gel precipitating antibody response was measured with this purified antigen. After natural rubella infection a slow increase in GP titres was found until the end of the observation period which covered 3 to 4 months. A tendency to slow development of rubella GP antibodies was observed in rubella vaccinees. Animal immunizations confirmed the slow increase of GP antibodies. Rabbits responded better than guinea pigs when measured by GP, although the latter produced high rubella HI antibody titres.

Rubella vaccine program: Its implications in obstetric practice

Questions concerning the ability of the rubella vaccine program to protect women from first trimester rubella infection underscore the need for serologic screening of all women in childbearing age for the presence of rubella antibody. Priority should be given to high-risk groups and consideration should be given to including this test in the premarital and pregnancy laboratory studies. Staff nurses of childbearing age and student nurses at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont were screened for the presence of rubella HI antibody. Of the staff nurses, 12 of 144 (8.3 per cent) had no antibody. Of 229 student nurses, 17 (7.4 per cent) had no antibody. Seventeen seronegative nurses were given HPV77W16 rubella vaccine and all seroconverted. Four noted transient arthritis and arthralgias of the hands and knees. Serologic screening of a private obstetric practice and of an entire high school proved feasible and revealed that 22 of 214 (10.3 per cent) pregnant women and 56 of 261 (21.5 per cent) high school girls lacked antibody. Immunization was recommended for nonpregnant seronegative women and for pregnant women only at the termination of pregnancy.

Rubella Immunization With HPV-77 DE5 Vaccine During Infancy

One hundred and thirty-seven infants, 6 to 12 months of age, were given live rubella vaccine to more clearly define the efficacy of rubella immunization under 1 year of age and to correlate passively acquired rubella antibody with response to rubella vaccine. By testing serial blood specimens taken from ten infants from birth to 6 months of age, we defined the half-life of rubella HI antibody as 30 days; our data supported the observation that rubella HI antibody is rarely detectable after 6 months of age. In this study population, no rubella HI antibody was detectable in any study participant at the time of vaccine inoculation. However, only 69% of the infants under 10 months of age seroconverted after rubella vaccine inoculation, whereas over 90% of those 10 months of age and older responded positively. No correlation between failure to seroconvert and levels of passively acquired rubella antibody at birth was found. Results of this study suggest that other age related factors are of major importance in influencing the immunologic response of the infant to live rubella vaccine.

Congenital rubella syndromes in Ryukyu prior to 1965

We ever reported an incidence of congenital rubella syndrome epidemic which occurred in Ryukyu Island in 1965, then under US administration, involving a surprisingly great number of patients, the number so far rare in the history of this disease.To establish the future prophylactic measure of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), it is thought to be of great value to look into the prior status there to that epidemicIn this line we examined 237 (125 males and 112 females) pupils in Okinawa Deaf-and-Dumb School, the only school of that sort in those areas, with our following diagnostic criterion: CRS=congenital deafness plus rubella retinopathy.The results were as follows:Twenty six cases (15 males and 11 females) were found to be CRS. Twenty cases of them were children born during 1956-1957. This is a coincidental fact with the observations of the doctors in those localities that there broke out an rubella epidemic around the year eight years prior to the 1965's epidemic.The defects assorted in the CRS patients studied were: rubella retinopathy with deafness and heart disease-5 cases (patent ductus arteriosus-4 cases and pulmonary artery stenosis-1 case) and with deafness alone-21 cases. Rubella HI antibody was tested in 24 cases of them by the use of Courland Duracyte Rubella Diagnostic Kit for Micro-Technic. All were shown to have the antibody ranging from 1: 10 to 1: 160.It was disclosed by this survey that there undoubtedly an rubella epidemic around the year 8 years prior to the 1965 epidemic. The scale of this, however, was thought small and the areas limited, despite it durated for more than 2 years. This explanes one of the main factors contributed to the 1965 epidemic, of CRS that many expectant mothers had remained susceptible to the virus till that incide.

Immunization of young adult females with the Cendehill strain of rubella vaccine

Rubella HI antibodies were observed in 54 of 56 susceptible young adult females vaccinated with the Cendehill strain of rubella vaccine. Twenty-nine of 56 (51.8 per cent) vaccinated reported no side effects. Arthralgia occurred in 5 of the 56 (8.9 per cent). Arthritis was not observed. Adenopathy was the most frequently observed side effect (23.2 per cent). There was no correlation between symptomatology and the degree of antibody response.

Rubella HI antibody among pregnant women in Amami. Oshima Islands

Oshima Shoto consists of 5 islands and has a population of 183 thousands. These islands are located in the southern end of Japan and stretch to Ryukyu under U. S. administration (population: 914 thousands) where we found that more than 360 patients with rubella syndrome were born after the malignant rubella epidemic in 1964-1965. Whereas only 10 patients with rubella syndrome were found in Oshima, though there had been rubella epidemis in 1965 and 1966. In order to find out the reason why there was a great difference in the epidemic of rubella syndrome between Oshima and Ryukuu, we tested the serum specimens from a series of pregnant women in Oshima for rubella HI antibody.Serum specimens were obtained from 375 pregnant women in this district for the period March through December in 1969. The age of them ranged from 19 to 44.Rubella HI antibody was detectable in 62% of the serum specimens tested and this indicated 38% of them did not have demonstrable antibody. The frequency of the pregnant women without antibody in the age group 21-30 was 47% and was significantly higher than that of the patients of 31 or older. There was no singificant difference in the frequency of rubella HI antibody among 5 islands studied.Sever, J. L. et al., Rowls, W. E. et al. and Thongcharoen, P. reported the populations of a large number of women without rubella antibody in Hawaii, Jamaica, Trinidad and Thailand. These areas share similar warm climatic condition. Kono, R. pointed out the frequency of the seronegative pregnant women was high in southern Japan as compared with northern Japan. Considering the interruption of rubella epidemic by summer season, the warm climate generally may not be fit for spread of rubella. It can be considered the rubella epidemics in temperate zone such as Oshima and Ryukyu were often small scale and a large number of women were left susceptible to rubella.However, there was a great difference in the epidemic of rubella between Ryukyu and Oshima: the rubella epidemic in Ryukyu in 1964-1965 was very extensive and these in Oshima in 1965 and in 1966 were small scale as usual and many susceptible pregnant women did not have an attack of rubella. Forty seven per cent of the pregnant women in the age group 21-30 in Oshima were regarded to be still at risk for bubella infection.

Congenital rubella: Immune response of the neonate and diagnosis by demonstration of specific IgM antibodies

Rubella IgM antibody was detected 1 to 6 1/2 months postnatally in the serum of 6 infants whose mothers had had rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy; rubella virus was recovered from 5 of the infants. No rubella IgM antibody was demonstrable in the serum of 9 neonates whose mothers had had rubella during the 2 latter trimesters of pregnancy; virus was not isolated from any of them. The 6 infants who had congenital rubella infection had stationary rubella HI antibody titers and stationary or rising rubella CF antibody titers after birth. By contrast, of the 9 symptom-free babies whose mothers had had rubella late in pregnancy, rubella antibody titers were stationary in 2 of them and declining (resembling those in the control patients) in 7.