Rubella seronegativity among health care workers in a tertiary care north Indian hospital: implications for immunization policy.
BACKGROUND
Rubella is traditionally considered a childhood disease but has the potential to cause outbreaks in hospital set ups. It is important to know the susceptibility status of health care workers (HCWs) as to frame guidelines for their immunization and thus prevent hospital outbreaks.


METHODS
The rubella susceptibility status of 313 HCWs working in the institute was assessed. This study was initiated after we reported an outbreak due to rubella among HCWs of our institute.


METHODS
The serum samples were tested to determine Rubella IgG titres by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).


RESULTS
Overall, 48 (15.3%) subjects were found to be negative, thereby indicating their susceptibility to infection. Out of them, 29 (60.5%) were in contact with pregnant women during the course of their employment. There is a risk of nosocomial transmission of rubella from affected HCWs to their contacts especially pregnant women as many of the rubella infections are asymptomatic.


CONCLUSIONS
Hence, we stress the need for vaccinating the HCWs at the start of their employment to contain the spread of infection and also to reduce the risk of outbreaks in work place.
Department of Virology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh - 160 012, India.
Mini P
MP
Singh
Shiv S
SS
Chatterjee
Randhir
R
Singh
Kapil
K
Goyal
Radha K
RK
Ratho
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012409:Rubella / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G