Natural immunity to measles, rubella and mumps among Spanish children in the pre-vaccination era

Prior to the start of mass vaccination campaigns against measles, rubella and mumps, a prevalence study of natural immunity to these diseases was undertaken in a sample of 1700 unvaccinated Spanish children. They were representative of the 3-7 year-old population in terms of age, regional distribution and urban or rural environment. Measles infection prevalence was significantly higher than that for rubella and mumps from 3 (48.3%, 14.2%, 25.5%, respectively) through 7 years of age, (64%, 40.9%, 39%). As a function of age, naturally-acquired immunity increased according to parabolic progressions. In the 3-5 year-old group, rural environment, low socioeconomic status, no school attendance and lack of brothers were associated with statistically lower levels of measles, rubella, or mumps infection. In the 6-7 year-old group, only 12% of the children showed antibodies against the three diseases and 18.7% exhibited triple susceptibility.