Abstract
Background and Objective: Measles is one of the most contagious viruses known to man and despite the availability of an effective vaccine; measles continues to cause thousands of deaths annually in the world. In 2003, an estimated 530000 Measles deaths occurred in the world. In 2000, following rapid success with the polio eradication initiation, Iran hopes to eliminate and eradicate measles by following the recommended world health organization (WHO) strategies.Therefore, seroepidemiology survey of measles in 5-25 years old in 2003 before measles/rubella mass vaccination campaign should be achieved.
Materials and Methods: 225 samples were collected from the Tabriz city. All samples were centrifuged to separate serums and then stored at 4-8 ºC and transported to National Measles Laboratory in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The Hemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test was used to determine the level of anti-measles antibodies.
Result: Anti-measles antibody was detected in 91.6 % of persons and 8.4% were negative. The highest level of Anti-measles antibody was observed in 20-25 year old age group (94.9 %), while the lowest value was measured in 15-19 years old age group (85.7 %).
Conclusion: Results of this study indicates that the immune status to measles in Tabriz city is suitable. Although there is high level of anti-measles antibody, but 19 percent of measles cases that reported in Azarbayjan-Sharghi province in 2003 were from this city, therefore the disease was endemic before mass vaccination in Tabriz city. Seroepidemiological studies before and after mass vaccinations are powerful tools to monitor the effectiveness of immunization programs. Comparison of the results obtained, offers an opportunity to look for clustering of susceptible individual based on serological profile.