Relation between susceptibility to rubellavirus infection in pregnant women and decreased immune responsiveness

There is an extensive ongoing antenatal testing programme in the West Midlands in the course of which the rubellavirus immune response of approximately 90,000 women per annum is investigated. All 400 sera were tested for antibody against influenza A virus, measlesvirus and adenovirus in standard complement fixation (CF) tests. A comparison of the titres against these viral antigens in the RS and the RAP group showed that the geometric means were very similar and did not differ significantly. Also, the distribution of titres in both groups was very similar and in no case did the number of sera of a certain CF titre of the RS group (pregnant women found to be susceptible to rubellavirus (RS)) differ significantly from the corresponding number of sera of the RAP group (women testing positive for rubellavirus-specific antibody (RAP)).