RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Measles seroepidemiology in 3 cities in Turkey
JF Saudi Medical Journal
JO Saudi Med J
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 1971
OP 1977
VO 26
IS 12
A1 Gozalan, Aysegul
A1 Korukluoglu, Gulay
A1 Kurtoglu, Demet
A1 Miyamura, Kikuko
A1 Yilmaz, Neziha
A1 Morita, Morihiro
A1 Esen, Berrin
A1 Akin, Levent
YR 2005
UL http://smj.org.sa/content/26/12/1971.abstract
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.