Rubella seroprevalence and demographic feature analysis in pregnant women from Southern Pakistan.

The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of rubella infection in pregnant women of district Lakki Marwat leading to foetal death, abortion, premature birth or congenital rubella syndrome. A total of 200 blood samples were collected from pregnant women visiting different maternal health care centers of the study area. Sera samples were tested for rubella-specific IgG and IgM antibodies through ELISA. The overall sero-positivity rate for IgG was 16% and for IgM was 2.5% in the pregnant women respectively. A higher sero-positivity rate was observed in the age group of 26-33 years. Women of rural areas showed higher sero-positivity rate than urban areas. The high sero-prevalence of rubella in the pregnant women of the study area poses a serious threat to the developing foetus.