Reducing the global burden of congenital rubella syndrome

Sero-epidemiological evaluation of rubella immunity among pre-marriage women in Iran

Few studies have addressed the seroepidemiological profile of rubella among a representative population of young adult women. This study aims to determine the immunity and susceptibility rate against rubella in a representative population of women in reproductive age in Iran through serological evaluation. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012 on 804 pre-marriage women in Iran. Multi-stage random sampling was used for choosing study sample. Serologic test were used to assess subjects' immunity to rubella and their titers of IgG antibody against rubella with ELISA method was measured. In total, 98.4% (95% CI: 97.5% -99.2%) of study participants were immune against rubella. Five women (0.6%) were in borderline category and 1% (8 women) was susceptible to rubella. The proportion of immune people in low and high incidence regions was 99.3% (95% CI: 97.8-99.9%), and 97.5% (95% CI: 96.4-98.5%), respectively (P = 0.05). Our data indicated that level of immunity to rubella in women of reproductive age in Iran is satisfactory. This finding indicates the achievement of Iran to the goal of high level of serum immunity against rubella among young women.

Infectious causes of childhood disability: results from a pilot study in rural Bangladesh

PURPOSE

To identify the contribution of infectious aetiologies to major childhood disabilities in Bangladesh.

METHODS

Active community-based survey was conducted for severe childhood disability using the Key Informants Method between September 2011 and March 2012 in a rural sub-district of Bangladesh.

RESULTS

We screened 1069 children and identified 859 with severe disabilities. The mean age of the disabled children was 8.5 year and 42.9% were girls. The major forms of impairments/conditions were cerebral palsy (n = 324, 37.7%), hearing impairment (n = 201, 23.4%), physical impairment (n = 147, 17.1%), visual impairment (n = 49, 5.7%), cerebral palsy with epilepsy (n = 39, 4.5%) and epilepsy (n = 41, 4.7%). Congenital rubella syndrome was identified in 1.1% (n = 9). 7.1% disabilities resulted from clinically confirmed infections, and another 10.8% originated from probable infections; thus a total of 17.9% disabilities were related to an infectious origin.

CONCLUSIONS

Infectious diseases appear to be one of the major causes of severe childhood disability in rural Bangladesh.