Duration of immunity after rubella vaccination: a long-term study in Switzerland

In Switzerland 319 of 594 young women seronegative for rubella antibody vaccinated at 15-25 years of age against rubella with the Cendehill vaccine strain were retested 15 years later with three tests (hemagglutination inhibition, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and a neutralization technique) for the presence of rubella antibodies. For 307 women rubella antibodies were still detectable by all three techniques. For nine women rubella antibodies were demonstrable by only one or two tests. Only three vaccinees were seronegative by all three tests. These three women also showed no booster response after challenge with the vaccine strain. The high percentage of women with persistent rubella antibodies 15 years after vaccination might be explained in part by the presence of subclinical reinfections due to a wild rubella virus.