[Susceptibility to measles in the adolescent population of the Federal District]

It is well known that in developing countries, measles disease is frequently increasing among adolescents. In Mexico, it is also thought that this problem is moving in such a way; however, this can not be proven with the statistical information at hand. For this reason a serum-survey was carried out in a sample of 870 healthy teenagers drawn from public and private secondary schools in Mexico City, in order to know if they were susceptible to measles disease and in that way make the right decisions. The information background related to the vaccination and information about previously having the disease was obtained from a questionnaire that was given to the parents of the studied teenagers. In order to get de immune state of the studied group, measles antibody titles were quantified using the ELISA technique. The findings shown that the susceptibility in this group was of 21.4%, which is certainly higher than the ones that have been found in some other countries where measles epidemics in people at this age have been well documented. Accordingly, it is thought that the displacing of this illness can be found in teenagers of Mexico City. An association was found with male sex and having the illness before. Teenagers that studied in public secondary schools reported more frequently, they had had the illness than the ones who studied at private schools. It was also found that these teenagers had a higher probability of having antimeasles antibody titles which are considered non protective; that is why it is thought these students are more likely to become ill during the adolescence stage than those who already have had the illness and the consequent protection.