2017 Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 189-195
This study was conducted to examine the acquisition of immunity to measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella by outpatient staff of multiple professions, as well as challenges for building a vaccination program.
The subjects were 428 outpatient staff. Questionnaires regarding history of infection and history of antibody testing for measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella and history of vaccinations were administered, and IgG antibody titers for measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella were measured by enzyme-linked fluorescent assay.
Antibody-positive subjects included 395 for measles, 372 for rubella, 400 for mumps, and 404 for varicella. The antibody titer results showed 308 subjects with “antibodies for all four diseases” and 120 subjects with “antibody-negative/indeterminate results for any of the four diseases”. The proportion of subjects who answered, “I will not get vaccinated if I test negative for antibodies in these blood sampling results” was significantly higher among “antibodies for all four diseases” than “antibody-negative/indeterminate results for any of the four diseases” groups (p = 0.012).
The results suggested that future challenges for building a vaccination program included, “Developing a vaccination program to allow both medical staff and non-medical staff to undergo antibody testing and vaccination”, “Carefully explaining the vaccinations required by each individual undergoing vaccination according to their antibody test results in order to link these results to vaccination behavior”.
