Rubella antibody status of patients attending a south-west London antenatal clinic, 2007-2012

Mass vaccination with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for children aged 12-15 months was introduced in 1988; schoolgirl vaccination was discontinued in 1996 and replaced by a second dose of MMR for preschool children and post-partum vaccination of susceptible women identified through antenatal testing. In the UK, declining uptake rates due to concerns about the MMR vaccine, and increasing numbers of cases in some European countries where rubella surveillance and preconceptional vaccination are inadequate, coupled with poor uptake rates, has started to show in the number of rubella-susceptible patients presenting at antenatal clinics (ANCs). In this study, samples were collected in serum separator tubes at the West Middlesex University Hospital (WMUH) ANC and sent to the laboratory. Rubella status was determined using a third-generation rubella IgG enzyme immunoassay. Any negative results were retested and confirmed using an alternative method. The concentrations were expressed as iu/mL (World Health Organization [WHO] standard). Over a five-year period, the number of rubella-susceptible patients increased from 4.1% to 6.8% of the total number of specimens tested. The current population susceptibility levels seem to be influenced by a number of factors: the target population, age at vaccination and the level of coverage, and exposure to wild virus.