The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2006 , Vol 48 , Num 4
Rubella seroprevalence among Turkish adolescent girls living in Edirne, Turkey
1Departments of Pediatrics, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey
2Departments of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey
3Departments of Public Health, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey
Öner N, Vatansever Ü, Karasalihoğlu S, Tatman-Otkun M, Ekuklu G, Küçükuğurluoğlu Y. Rubella seroprevalence among Turkish adolescent girls living in Edirne, Turkey. Turk J Pediatr 2006; 48: 288-293.

This study was designed to estimate the rubella seroprevalence in unvaccinated Turkish adolescent girls in urban and rural areas of Edirne, and to create preventive strategies for congenital rubella syndrome (CRS).

The sample, representing 12- to 17-year-old adolescent girls, consisted of 1,600 subjects selected from school lists by systematic and random sampling, which was matched by age and urban-rural residency strata proportional to the corresponding distributions in the Edirne population. For each participant, a questionnaire was completed and rubella-specific IgG antibodies were measured.

After analysis of samples, seropositivity prevalence, equivocal and seronegative samples of adolescent girls in Edirne were determined as 93.1%, 0.6% and 6.3%, respectively.

Data from the present study may indicate that 6.9% of adolescent girls have considerable risk for rubella infection during pregnancy. Eliminating rubella and CRS in Turkey will require national health service efforts, including vaccination of all adolescents and all susceptible women of childbearing age. Keywords : rubella, seroprevalence, adolescent girls

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