Seroprevalence of Rubella Virus Infection in Susceptible Women of Childbearing Age Group Seeking Preconceptional Counselling and Infertility Treatment- A Cross-sectional Study from Eastern India

Introduction: Rubella is an acute viral infection predominantly affecting children and adults. Although natural infection with rubella provide lifelong immunity, but, primary infection in pregnant women during the initial days of pregnancy may result in spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, or a baby born with Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS), which can be prevented by vaccinating the susceptible non immune females one month prior to planning conception. Aim: To determine rubella virus immune status and demographic profile of women in childbearing age group, and counsel all Rubella virus infection susceptible women for vaccination prior to planning pregnancy. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was done at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna , Bihar, India, on 112 apparently healthy, asymptomatic women in the 18-45 years age group coming for preconceptional counselling and primary and secondary infertility treatment during April 2017 to March 2019, whose serum rubella Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody testing was done by Enzyme- linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The data regarding their rubella virus immune status, age, parity and occupations were coded and recorded in MS Excel spreadsheet program. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 (IBM Corp.) was used for data analysis. Results: Out of the total 112 women {92 (82.1%) housewife and 20 (17.9%) professionals} included in this study , a total of 67 (59.8%) women tested positive for rubella IgG antibody and 45 (40.2%) tested negative for rubella IgG antibody. The mean age of the rubella virus seropositive immune patients and seronegative susceptible women was 27.72±4.83 years was 26.09±4.68 years respectively. Among the 67 seropositive patients, maximum antirubella virus IgG seropositivity (71.4%) was seen in more than 35 years age group and maximum seronegativity 23 (46.9%) was seen in 18-26 years age group. There was no direct association of occupation and parity with rubella immune status. Conclusion: Higher rate of antirubella IgG seronegativity amongst younger age groups and nulliparous women renders them susceptible to primary Rubella virus infection. Hence, Rubella IgG antibody screening, proper counselling and prompt rubella vaccination for all primary Rubella virus infection susceptible women is necessary one month prior to planning conception, to avoid foetal congenital malformations during subsequent pregnancies.