Seroprevalence of rubella virus infection in women with recurrent miscarriage: a case control study in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss is an emotionally and physically tasking situation for couples, especially in developing countries where lack of children is a cultural taboo. Rubella infection in early conception has a 90% probability of developing congenital rubella  syndrome (CRS) or miscarriage. The aim of this study was to compare the seroprevalence of rubella virus infection in women with and without recurrent miscarriage.

Methods: It was a hospital based case control study. Sampling was done by purposive. Subjects were recruited consecutively until the  required number was reached. Control subjects were selected by simple random sampling. Healthy postnatal women who consented for the study were asked to pick a piece of paper from a covered container, those who picked yes were then recruited. A semi structured researcher administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was used to check for rubella specific IgG and IgM. We compared the prevalence of rubella virus infection in cases and controls by Chi-square analysis. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: The overall mean age of the participants was 30.62±3.60 years. None of the participants had received rubella virus vaccination. The seroprevalence rates of rubella IgG and IgM among the cases were 85% and 16.7%, while in the controls were 80% and 13.3%. The prevalence of Primary + + rubella infection (IgG IgM ) was 10 (16.7%) and 8 (13.3%) among the cases and the controls respectively. Rubella virus + - seropositivity (IgG IgM ) was 68.3% among cases versus 66.7% - - among controls, and rubella virus seronegativity (IgGIgM) was 15.0% and 20.0% among cases and control respectively.

Conclusion: The high seroprevalence of rubella virus infection observed in this study suggest that majority of women in our setting are exposed to rubella virus infection before pregnancy. There was no significant difference in the seroprevalence of rubella virus infection between women with and those without a history of recurrent miscarriage.