National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Rubella virus infection is a global public health problem especially in pregnant women leading to congenital defects. There is dearth of information on its prevalence in Keffi, thus this baseline study as a prelude for the requirement for rubella vaccination policy. Blood samples from 220 consenting pregnant women were screened for rubella IgG antibody using an ELISA test kit (Cortez Diagnostic, Inc, USA). Chi-square test was used to determine possible risk factors associated with the viral seropositivity. The overall seroprevalence of the viral infection was 11.4%. Participants aged ≤ 19 years recorded the highest prevalence (25.0%) while there was no infection recorded among those aged ≥ 40 years (p> 0.05). There was a statistically significant association between the seroprevalence of infection and gestational period. Participants in their 2nd trimester had the highest prevalence (23.5%) while women in their 1st trimester were seronegative to IgG (p< 0.05). Other probable risk factors studied were educational level, occupation, parity and locality but none of these had a statistically significant association with rubella virus infection (p> 0.05). A significant number (88.6%) of the pregnant women were found to be susceptible to rubella virus infection. The initiation of a vaccination policy for all women of child bearing age is advocated for this area.
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