Measles seroepidemiology in 3 cities in Turkey.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate immunity against measles and its relation with some variables among healthy subjects in 3 cities in Turkey.


METHODS
We carried out a cross-sectional study on measles antibody titers in the serum samples of 712 people from Antalya, 696 from Diyarbakir and 667 from Samsun, Turkey using particle agglutination test between February 2000 and October 2001. The study groups, informed and asked for their consent by midwives, consisted of randomly selected subjects of all ages older than 6 months. We implemented the study in 3 steps: physical examination, interview and blood collection.


RESULTS
We considered titers of > or = 1:16 as positive and we observed lower seropositivity in Diyarbakir (90.8%) than Antalya (95.9%), and Samsun (94.9%) (p=0.040). We also observed that seropositivity was lower among preschool group than older groups (p=0.006). The number of doses of measles vaccine (p=0.001) and measles infection history (p=0.003) were found as a factor increasing the seropositivity ratio. There was no statistically significant between age groups (p=0.219), gender (p=0.148), residence (p=0.537), and number per household (p=0.983) among the provinces.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings, measles infection still has a high incidence in Turkey and the second dose of measles vaccine is extremely important in the prevention of measles transmission among school children and the community. Furthermore, we must improve our regional differences in routine vaccination services.
Gozalan
Aysegul
A
Department of Communicable Diseases Research, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey.
Korukluoglu
Gulay
G
Kurtoglu
Demet
D
Miyamura
Kikuko
K
Yilmaz
Neziha
N
Morita
Morihiro
M
Esen
Berrin
B
Akin
Levent
L
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008457:Measles / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008458:Measles Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011336:Probability; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D014611:Vaccination / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends
D008458:Measles Vaccine