title: Prevalence of childhood exanthematic disease antibodies in paramedical students: need of vaccination.
abstract: The immunity to common childhood exanthematic diseases such as varicella, rubella, mumps and measles was evaluated in 1024 students of the degree courses of health professions at Padua University Medical School. Subjects were subdivided according to gender and age (25 years old or less, and older than 25 years). Results showed that the prevalence of positive antibodies (IgG) to varicella and rubella (94.1 and 94.5%, respectively) was significantly higher (p<0.001) than mumps (78.6%) and measles (86.3%). In addition, measles showed a significant higher prevalence than mumps (p<0.001). Prevalence of positive antibodies to rubella in females (97.4%) was significantly higher (p<0.001) than males (87.5%), but only if aged 25 years or less. Furthermore, males older than 25 years were significantly more immune (p<0.001) to measles (93.0%) than younger ones (84.3%). A vaccination strategy was applied but compliance was less than 50%; in addition, about 40.0% of vaccinated subjects eluded control after vaccination. Seroconversion after vaccine appeared high for rubella, mumps and measles (92.3, 88.9 and 88.1%, respectively), but low for varicella (43.8%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, I-35128 Padova, Italy. andrea.trevisan@unipd.it
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trevisan
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morandin
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frasson
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paruzzolo
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Davanzo
authors.forename: Livio Di
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Marco
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fabrello
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borella-Venturini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D005076:Exanthema / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013337:Students, Medical; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D014765:Viral Vaccines