Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

    Background & Aim: Epidemics of measles are still continuing in developing countries especially Iran. For this reason, ministry of health provided mass vaccination for all persons between the ages of 5 and 25 in 2004. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of antimeasles antibody in military students after vaccination. Patients & Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out, one month after mass vaccination, on 865 military students who had vaccination cards in the capital city of Tehran in 2004. Demographic information included age, history of measles vaccination and past history of measles or close contact. Blood samples(5 cc) were taken from each student and were assayed for antimeasles antibody by ELISA kits manufactured by Enzygnost Behring of Germany. Qualitative level of antibody was determined by cut off OD and quantitative level by MIU/ml as per WHO orders and kit formula. SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Results: All participants of the study were men with a mean age of 19±1.1 SD. More than 586(67.7%) of students had been vaccinated in their childhoods, 34(3.9%) had close contact with measles cases and 27(2.7%) had positive history of measles. Antimeasles antibody was positive for IgG in 97.8% and for IgM in 0.8% of the cases. Only 19(2.2%) of students were negative for IgG and IgM. Conclusion: It was noticed that 2.2% of the students did not have any antimeasles antibody, which puzzled us why some students suffered from lack of the synthesis of antibody. Therefore, further evaluation of this issue is recommended.