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Citation: Olabode AO et al. Determination of Rubella Virus Infection in Women of Child Bearing Age in Vom, Jos
South Local Government Area, Plateau State. Sch J App Med Sci, 2021 Sept 9(9): 1358-1361.
1358
Scholars Journal of Applied Medical Sciences
Abbreviated Key Title: Sch J App Med Sci
ISSN 2347-954X (Print) | ISSN 2320-6691 (Online)
Journal homepage: https://saspublishers.com
Determination of Rubella Virus Infection in Women of Child Bearing
Age in Vom, Jos South Local Government Area, Plateau State
Olabode AO1, Anyanwu AL1, Chukwuedo AA2, Ajobiewe JO3*, Ajobiewe HF4 , Dangana A5, Oguji C5, Alexander P4,
Yashim NA3, Sidi II3
1Department of Virology, Federal College of Veterinary and Medical Laboratory Technology Vom, Plateau State
2Virus Research Division, National Veterinary Research, Institute, P.O, Box 207, Vom Plateau State
3National Hospital Plot 132 Garki Central Area F.C.T. Nigeria
4Bingham University Karu, Nasarawa State of Nigeria
5University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada FCT, Nigeria
DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2021.v09i09.008 | Received: 23.07.2021 | Accepted: 30.08.2021 | Published: 08.09.2021
*Corresponding author: Ajobiewe JO
Abstract
Original Research Article
The determination of rubella IgG antibody among two hundred and seventy-two (272) women of child bearing age in
Vom was carried out, using the Immune – ELISA rubella IgG quantitative test kit. Seventy – two (72) specimens came
from non-pregnant women while 200 specimens came from pregnant women. Out of 72 blood specimens from non-
pregnant women investigated, 66(91.67%) were positive for rubella IgG antibody while 169(84.50%) were positive
out of 200 specimens from pregnant women. Rubella IgG antibody was detected in all the age groups of the women.
The women age ranges from 18-45 years and had no previous history of rubella vaccinations. Among the age groups
ages, 21-25 years had the highest rubella antibody (36.11%) in the non-pregnant women while ages 26-30 years had
the highest rubella antibodies with 30.00%. in pregnant women. The least rubella antibody among the non-pregnant
was 9.72% in ages 31-35 years while it was lower in ages 41-45 with 1.00% in pregnant women. On parity, 1-2 had
the highest positive rubella antibodies in both non-pregnant, (38.00) and pregnant women (34.72%) while 11-12 had
the least in non-pregnant (1.00%) and 7-8 in pregnant women with 12.50%. the study has shown that a significant
proportion of the women have been naturally exposed to rubella virus infection and therefore immuned for life.
Rubella virus infection being a disease of medical importance should be given serious attention. Based on the findings
of this study it is strongly recommended that all females before the child bearing age should be vaccinated against
rubella.
Key words: Rubella, Rubella virus, women, pregnancy.
Copyright © 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original
author and source are credited.
INTRODUCTION
Rubella virus infection in human is a global
public health problem especially in developing
countries where women of child bearing age are not
often vaccinated, and are susceptible to rubella virus,
infection that may result to congenital defects [1].
Rubella is caused by rubella virus, a single stranded,
positive sense RNA virus with envelope glycoprotein
spikes. It is a member of the genus rubivirus in the
family of togaviridae [2]. Epidemiologically, rubella is
a worldwide human disease and it is endemic in
virtually all congenital rubella syndromes [3-5]. Over
40% of infected persons fail to develop symptoms [6]
while about 30,000 cases of congenital rubella
syndrome have been documented [7, 8].
The disease is characterized by abortion, still
birth, rash, mild upper respiratory symptoms, low
grade, fever with arthalgia and arthritis common in
young adults as the disease progresses. During infection
the evidence of IgM antibody is diagnostic of recent
infection while IgG is considered for immunity due to
natural infection in vaccinated susceptible young
women or due to vaccination [9, 5]. This study was
designed to determine rubella virus infection among
women of child bearing age in Vom-Plateau State,
North Central Nigeria.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Samples: Blood serum specimens were
collected from women of child bearing age, between
ages 18-45 years. Seventy –two (72) specimens came
from no-pregnant women while 200 specimens were
obtained from pregnant women. A total of 272
specimens were collected by vane puncture, allowed to
Virology
Olabode AO et al; Sch J App Med Sci, Sept, 2021; 9(9): 1358-1361
© 2021 Scholars Journal of Applied Medical Sciences | Published by SAS Publishers, India
1359
clot and serum separated by centrifugation at 2500 rpm
for 10 minutes. The sera were heat inactivated at 560C
for 30 minutes in a water bath and kept at – 200C ready
for use.
Sample laboratory assay: The presence of
rubella virus antibody in the samples was determined
using immunocomb II rubella IgG and IgM, code
6040062 version 400/E5, format 3 X 12 test kit
(organics Ltd, Israel). It is an indirect solid phase
Enzyme Immuno Assay (EIA) and a quantitative
tecnique based on the antigen-antibody reaction
principle. The test results and interpretations were done
according to the manufacturer’s instructions and
specifications [8, 10].
RESULTS
Table 1 presents the overall distribution of
rubella antibody amongst the two groups of women
investigated. The pregnant women had the highest
rubella antibody level with 73.53% than the non-
pregnant women. Although more samples were
obtained from pregnant women than the non-pregnant
women.
Table-1: Overall distribution of Rubella IgG Antibody in women of child bearing age
Category of women
No. sample
No. Positive
No. Negative
Non-Pregnant
72
66(91.67)
6(8.33)
Pregnant
200
169(84.50)
31(15.50)
The age distribution of rubella IgG antibody
among the non-pregnant women is shown in table 2.
The results show that ages 21-25 year had the highest
rubella antibody with 36.11% while ages 31-35 year
have the least (9.72%). However, there were no samples
obtained in ages 36-40 and 41-45 years.
Table-2: Age Distribution of Rubella IgG Antibody in Non-pregnant women
Age groups (years)
No. sample (%)
No. Positive (%)
No. Negative (%)
15-20
19
16(22.22)
3(4.16)
21-25
28
26(36.11)
2(2.78)
26-30
18
17(23.61)
1(1.39)
31-35
7
7(9.72)
0(0.00)
36-40
0
0(0.00)
0(0.00)
41-45
0
0(0.00)
0(0.00)
Total
71
66(91.67)
0(8.33)
Table 3 shows the age distribution of rubella
IgG antibody among pregnant women. The result
showed that ages 26-30 years had the highest rubella
antibody level with 30.00% followed by ages 21-25
years (21.00%) while age 42-45 years had the least
level with 1.00%.
Table-3: Age Distribution of Rubella IgG Antibody in pregnant women
Age groups
(years)
No. sample (%)
No. Positive (%)
No. Negative (%)
15-20
13(6.60)
12(6.00)
1(0.50)
21-25
48(24.00)
42(21.00)
6(3.00)
26-30
73(36.50)
60(30.00)
13(6.50)
31-35
45(22.50)
37(18.50)
8(4.00)
36-40
18(9.00)
16(8.00)
2(1.00)
41-45
3(1.50)
2(1.00)
1.(0.50)
Total
200(100)
169(84.50)
31(15.50)
The distribution of rubella antibody based on
parity is shown in Table 4. The highest levels of the
antibody to rubella were 76(38.00%) and 25(34.72%) in
non-pregnant and pregnant women respectively and
decreases as the parity increases from 1-2 to 11-12. The
least’s were 2(1.00%) and 9(12.50%) among the non-
pregnant and pregnant respectively.
Olabode AO et al; Sch J App Med Sci, Sept, 2021; 9(9): 1358-1361
© 2021 Scholars Journal of Applied Medical Sciences | Published by SAS Publishers, India
1360
Table-4: Distribution of Rubella IgG Antibody based on Parity
Pregnant Women
Non-Pregnant
Women
Parity
No. tested
No. Positive (%)
No. Tested
No. Positive (%)
1-2
85
76(38.00)
28
25(34.72)
3-4
56
50(25.00)
21
19(26.39)
5-6
38
26(13.00)
14
13(18.06)
7-8
13
10(5.00)
9
9(12.50)
9-10
5
5(2.50)
0
0(0.00)
11-12
3
2(1.00)
0
0(0.00)
Total
200
169(84.50)
72
66(91.67)
Table 5 shows the distribution of the subjects
based on the concentration of the rubella IgG antibody
in their test serum. More women among the non-
pregnant child bearing category had their rubella
antibody concentration in between 31 to 120 iu/ml.
Also among the pregnant women in the child bearing
age, more women had their rubella antibody
concentration within 31-12iu/ml. The pregnant women
had more women (41) than the non-pregnant women in
the 0-30iu/ml concentration of rubella antibody.
Table-5: Distribution of Subjects based on Rubella Antibody concentrations (iu/ml) in Women
Rubella IgG
Conc. (iu/ml)
No. of Non-Pregnant
Women (%)
No. of Pregnant
Women (%)
0-15
1(1.52)
8(4.73)
16-30
4(6.06)
33(19.53)
31-60
22(37.88)
74(43.97)
121-240
14(21.21)
13(7.69)
Total
66(100)
169(100)
DISCUSSION
Human infection with rubella virus is one of
the major public medical health problems, especially in
susceptible women of child bearing age [8] and has the
tendency to cause abortion, stillbirth and many other
major complications in foetuses and neonates [11].
Evidence of rubella virus infection and congenital
rubella syndrome has been documented in Nigeria [12,
3].
In this study, 91.67% prevalence of rubella
antibody was obtained from non-pregnant child bearing
age women and 84.50% prevalence rate from pregnant
women. These results were higher than rubella
haemagglutinating inhibition prevalence rate of 67%
reported by [13] in Imo State and ELISA rubella IgG
antibody prevalence rate of 77% reported by [14]. It is
also higher than 73.50% and 79.30% prevalence rates
obtained from Adamawa and Kaduna States
respectively [8] and 57% prevalence recorded in
Makurdi [15] (table 1). The age distribution of rubella
antibodies showed that ages 21-25 years had the highest
prevalence rate (36.11%) among the non-pregnant and
ages 26-30 years had the highest with 30.00% in the
pregnant of the child bearing age women. The least
prevalence rates came from ages 31-35 years (9.72%)
and ages 41-45 years with 1.00% in non-pregnant and
pregnant women respectively (Table 2 and 3).
On parity, the rubella antibodies were highest
in 1-2 with 3800% in pregnant and 34.72% in non-
pregnant women (Table 4) the prevalence rates
decreases as the parity level increases from 1-2 to 11-
12. The distribution of subject base on the rubella
antibody concentrations in women serum. The
predominating rubella IgG concentrations were in 31-60
and 61-120 iu/ml in both non-pregnant and pregnant
women of child bearing ages. However, 14 no pregnant
and 13 pregnant women had their rubella antibody
concentrations in 121-240 iu/ml. This could be
attributed to the period during which the rubella virus
was acquired. The influx of people with very close
interaction, lack of awareness of the disease, refection
and poor vaccination program, poor rural medical
facilities, many below poverty level and the availability
of susceptible women may be responsible for the spread
and maintenance of the disease in the State.
The higher prevalence rates obtained in this
study may be attributed to ELISA test technique used in
the laboratory assay, which is more sensitive and
specific compared to the haemagglutinating inhibition
and single radial haemolysis used by previous workers
which is less sensitive. Some of the recent infections
observed among the women may have occurred during
child delivery and child hood immunization against
rubella, where children are put together in a closed
environment and may shed the virus to their susceptible
mother [11, 8]. Sometimes the disease condition may
occur due to the state of the patient at the one set of
infection. Since pregnancy is a contra indication to
rubella vaccine, it is important to note that pregnant
women are not supposed to be vaccinated and
pregnancy should be avoided for at least four weeks
after receiving rubella vaccine[8].
Olabode AO et al; Sch J App Med Sci, Sept, 2021; 9(9): 1358-1361
© 2021 Scholars Journal of Applied Medical Sciences | Published by SAS Publishers, India
1361
In conclusion the study has shown that rubella
virus infection is present and is circulating among
women of child bearing age. To prevent further
transmission and spread of rubella infection, adequate
vaccination against rubella should be given to women
of child bearing age. Our medical facilities in the
hospital and medical centres should be improved and
very sensitive and modern serological techniques
should be introduced in our health centres to ensure
early detection of the disease.
We wish to recommend that more work be
done in all the medical and health centres nationwide to
determine the national prevalence.
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