Abstract

Background: Control of rubella infection is essential for preventing congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) and one of the important steps is to define a target population for vaccination. Therefore this study was done to determine serological evidence of acute rubella infection among under-fives in order to anticipate the magnitude of rubella virus transmission in Tanzania.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving children aged between 1 and 59 months was conducted between September and October 2014 before national rubella vaccination campaigns commenced. Rubella IgM antibodies were detected using commercial indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data were analyzed using STATA version 11.

Results: A total of230 under-fives were enrolled, their median age was 14 (Interquartile range (IQR) 7–26) months. The overall seroprevalence of rubella IgM antibodies was 10.9 % (25/230) with two confirmed cases of CRS. Two-sample Wilcoxon rank-sum test showed that the median age of rubella IgM seropositive children was significantly higher than that of IgM seronegative children (39 IQR: 18-51months vs. 14 IQR: 7–24 months, P < 0.001). On multivariate logistic regression analysis increase in age (OR: 1.07, 95 % CI; 1.03–1.1, P < 0.001) and residing in rural areas (OR: 8.07, 95 % CI; 1.43–45.6, P = 0.018) were independently found to predict acute rubella infection among under-fives.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that rubella virus is prevalent in our setting posing a risk of transmitting to childbearing aged women hence increasing the risk of CRS. Increasing prevalence of acute infection with age in under-fives indicates the protective role of maternal antibodies among infants. The sustained vaccination programme of under-fives as effective measure to control CRS should be emphasized in developing countries.