Title:
Seroprevalence of Anti-Measles Immunoglobulin G in Pregnant Women Followed at Laquintinie Hospital and General Hospital of Douala

Authors:
Abdou Aziz PETOUONCHI NJOYA, Jean Pierre NDA MEFO’O, Grace NGONDI, Gabin SIMO, Christiane MEDI SIKE, Achille CHUENGUE, Cécile EBONGUE OKALLA, Henri ESSOME, Charlotte TCHENTE NGEUFACK, Dieudonné ADIOGO, Cameroon

Abstract:

Introduction: Pregnant women who have been in contact with the measles virus or vaccinated against this virus produce anti-measles antibodies of the IgG type. These will be transferred to the fetus via the placenta to protect it at birth before the vaccination age of 9 months. To this end, we set out to research the titer of anti-measles antibodies and the factors associated with this titer in pregnant women.
Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional study with analytical purposes, from June 2021 to February 2022(9 mois). The recruitment of participants took place in the maternity departments of Laquintinie Hospital and the General Hospital of Douala. Any pregnant woman consultant who had consulted in one of these two hospitals was included in this study. Consecutive sampling was adopted and a technical sheet was used to collect socio-demographic data and obstetric history of the participants. To study the antibody titer, a 5ml sample of venous blood was taken. The qualitative and quantitative investigation of immunoglobulin G in serum was carried out using the “Measles Virus IgG ^TM ” ELISA (IBM international). The protection titer was considered based on values ≥ 200 mIU/ml. The data collected were analyzed using Excel 2013 and SPSS 20 software and then the associated factors were searched using the odds ratio and the p-value.
Results: A total of 160 pregnant women were recruited, the majority age group was 25-30 years old. The participants' histories showed that 16.85% had “had measles” and 1.25% had been in contact with infected children. The biological analysis showed that the titer of anti-measles antibodies was between 40 and 5,000 mIU/ml with a predominance of titer between 200 and 1000 mIU/ml. The status between the neutralizing antibody titer and the protective situation presented 78.13% of women who had a protective level (values ≥ 200 mIU/ml). We observed no significant association between protection status and any factors.

 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.51505/ijmshr.2024.8505