Tetanus immunization in pregnant women. Serum levels of antitetanus antibodies at time of delivery

Maral I., CIRAK M., AKSAKAL F., Baykan Z., KAYIKCIOGLU F., ALI BUMIN M.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, cilt.17, sa.7, ss.661-665, 2001 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 17 Sayı: 7
  • Basım Tarihi: 2001
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1023/a:1015507402480
  • Dergi Adı: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.661-665
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: anti-tetanus antibody level, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, neonatal tetanus, pregnant women, tetanus toxoid vaccination, NEONATAL TETANUS, TOXOID IMMUNIZATION, VACCINATION, IMMUNITY, BANGLADESH, HEALTH, TURKEY, PERU
  • Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

The objective of this study was to determine the tetanus immunity status of pregnant women at the time of delivery according to tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccination coverage during their most pregnancy. The serum anti-tetanus antibody levels of 493 mothers who had live births at a hospital in Ankara were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Protected women were defined as those with serum antibody levels greater than or equal to 0.6 IU/ml. Overall, 69.0% of mothers had protective tetanus antibody titers at the time of delivery. The rates of protection for mothers who had received no vaccination, one TT dose, or two TT doses during pregnancy were 46.4, 93.5, and 95.6%, respectively. Vaccinating every pregnant woman with at least one dose of TT would be an affordable and effective way to protect against neonatal tetanus, and would be a step toward eliminating the deaths that continue to occur due to this preventable disease in Turkey.