Abstract

A. Ouyahia*, A. Segueni, S. Laouamri, A. Touabtiand A. Lacheheb

Controlling congenital rubella is one of the targets of the World Health Organization. Most countries currently include rubella vaccine in their national immunization programmes, but not yet in Algeria. The aim of this study was to determine the sero susceptibility of rubella infection among women of childbearing age and the feasibility of establishing an organized prevention program in Algeria. This prospective, cross-sectional study was examined in healthy women of childbearing age (who gave informed consent) living in both an urban and a rural region of the eastern of Algeria. 834 sera were collected between March 2005 and March 2007, and were screened for rubella immunoglobulins G (IgG) using the ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (ELISA)-based quantitative assay in the Microbiology Laboratory at the Teaching Hospital of Setif. The mean age of the women was 32 years (range: 18 to 48) and 39.2% were pregnant. None of the women ever had previous rubella vaccination. The global seroprevalence determined with a commercial enzyme immunoassay among 834 WCBA was 68.6% (95% CI: 65.3 to 71.7% ), leaving a high proportion of susceptibility (31.4%).The distribution of this prevalence appeared stable with no significant difference between the years of study, age groups, and residence . The lack of data on rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in Algeria should encourage medical authorities to establish a national rubella surveillance network in order to develop a strategy to survey and control congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in the country. The present study which is the first national level data on seroprevalence of rubella among women of childbearing age, suggests the need for a policy to immunize all adolescent girls and/or women of childbearing age group against rubella before conception to control CRS.