title: Rubella: serosusceptibility among Egyptian females in late childhood and childbearing period.
abstract: Our objective was to determine age-specific rubella susceptibility among Egyptian females. This was a cross-sectional survey in eight randomly selected communities, with the largest number of reported rubella cases in the 2007 Rubella surveillance. A sample of 5672 females between the ages of 6 and 45 years were interviewed. Of those 602 blood samples were obtained and tested for rubella IgG. The proportion of seronegative females was 9.7%. The highest proportion of susceptible females was in the ages between 6 and 25 years and the highest risk of susceptibility was among unmarried females [odds ratio (OR)=7.2]. The knowledge of interviewed females about rubella, the vaccine and the effect rubella infection on pregnancy and on the fetus was very limited. In conclusion more vaccination coverage is needed, with simultaneous increase of public awareness to minimize the susceptible female population.
authors.affiliation: International Health Division, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. mhashem@epi.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashem
authors.forename: Mohamed Hasan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Husein
authors.forename: Doa'a A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.forename: Rehab
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abdelhai
authors.forename: Eman
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eltahlawy
authors.forename: Hala
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esmat
authors.forename: Nagah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horeesh
authors.forename: Mounir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdalla
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moustafa
authors.forename: Amany
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El-Gohary
authors.forename: Nahed
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Azzazi
authors.forename: Amr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kandeel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012409:Rubella / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G