Rubella Antibodies in a Sample of Lusaka Mothers

Abstract

Sera from 50 mothers of still born babies and 50 mothers of live born babies matched for parity were examined for rubella antibodies. There was no difference between the 2 groups. Altogether 88% of the mothers had rubella antibodies indicating that the infection is widespread. There were more young mothers of low parity who were negative for rubella antibodies compared with older women, but this did not reach a Statistically significant level. The difficulty of diagnosing acute rubella, or of recognising deafness or a mild cardiac malformation is emphasised and further Studies need to be done on the effect of rubella in pregnancy in Zambia.