The Need for Routine Rubella Antibody Testing of Women

Results of rubella antibody tests performed by the California State Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory on blood specimens collected in 1968 and 1969 from school children and women of childbearing age showed a slightly lower prevalence of rubella antibody in California than reported from most other areas of the United States. Among women of childbearing age, rubella hemagglutination-inhibition (hi) antibody was found in 72 percent of those tested in California compared with 80 percent to 90 percent in other areas of the country. Rubella antibody testing services offered by the State Virus Laboratory included situations in which a pregnant woman was exposed to a suspected case of rubella. It was shown that very few of these exposures constitute a significant risk to the fetus as most of the women already possessed antibody to rubella from past infection and in many instances the exposures were not to actual cases of rubella. The results of this study emphasized the urgency of obtaining blood specimens from pregnant women as soon as possible after exposure to rubella or development of symptoms of rubella. The urgency and anxiety attending these situations can largely be obviated if routine rubella antibody testing of women is carried out prior to pregnancy or at the first prenatal visit.