PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gozalan, Aysegul
AU  - Korukluoglu, Gulay
AU  - Kurtoglu, Demet
AU  - Miyamura, Kikuko
AU  - Yilmaz, Neziha
AU  - Morita, Morihiro
AU  - Esen, Berrin
AU  - Akin, Levent
TI  - Measles seroepidemiology in 3 cities in Turkey
DP  - 2005 Dec 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 1971--1977
VI  - 26
IP  - 12
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/26/12/1971.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/26/12/1971.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2005 Dec 01; 26
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate immunity against measles and its relation with some variables among healthy subjects in 3 cities in Turkey.METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional study on measles antibody titers in the serum samples of 712 people from Antalya, 696 from Diyarbakir and 667 from Samsun, Turkey using particle agglutination test between February 2000 and October 2001. The study groups, informed and asked for their consent by midwives, consisted of randomly selected subjects of all ages older than 6 months. We implemented the study in 3 steps: physical examination, interview and blood collection.RESULTS: We considered titers of >=1:16 as positive and we observed lower seropositivity in Diyarbakir (90.8%) than Antalya (95.9%), and Samsun (94.9%) (p=0.040). We also observed that seropositivity was lower among preschool group than older groups (p=0.006). The number of doses of measles vaccine (p=0.001) and measles infection history (p=0.003) were found as a factor increasing the seropositivity ratio. There was no statistically significant between age groups (p=0.219), gender (p=0.148), residence (p=0.537), and number per household (p=0.983) among the provinces.CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, measles infection still has a high incidence in Turkey and the second dose of measles vaccine is extremely important in the prevention of measles transmission among school children and the community. Furthermore, we must improve our regional differences in routine vaccination services.