Determination of rubella IgG and IgM antibodies among women of child bearing age in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Rubella is an important Toga virus disease, causing significant human public health problem in Nigeria. In this study effort was made to determine rubella prevalence in women in Kano State. One thousand blood sera were tested with IgM specific Enzyme Immuno Assay (EIA) and IgG
indirect solid phase ELISA based kits. Out of the 1000 samples, 663(66.30%) had IgG and 81(8.10%) had IgM antibodies. Ages 31 - 40 years had the highest IgG and IgM (20.10% and 4.80% prevalence respectively). The married women had the highest prevalence rates for both IgG (32.8%) and IgM (5.70%) antibodies. Occupationally, the housewives had 23.10% and 5.4% prevalence for IgG and IgM respectively, while the least came from the farmers (4.10%) for IgG
and traders (0.00%) for IgM. Analysis of educational status showed that the non-formal group had highest prevalence with 26.1% for IgG and 5.0% for IgM, while the tertiary education group had the least, 12.5% for IgG and 0.2% for IgM. Out of the 688 infected pregnant women involved in
the study, 68.60% had IgG and 11.77% had IgM antibodies. Women in their first trimester of pregnancy recorded 26.74% prevalence for IgG and 6.83% for IgM antibodies. This study strongly suggests presence of rubella virus infections in Kano State. Adequate vaccination program for these
women is therefore reccommended.

Keyword: Rubella virus, public health, antibody, pregnant women, congenital defects, Nigeria