Determination of measles seroprevalance in healtcare workers of Dokuz Eylül University Medical Faculty Hospital

Aim: Measles is a highly contagious disease with fever and rash. There is an elimination target by the World Health Organization and there has been a decrease in the number of cases after vaccination, and in recent years caused epidemics worldwide. Today, most cases of measles are associated with health care. Healthcare workers are at higher risk of measles transmission compared to individuals in the community. With this study, the measles seroprevalence of the healthcare workers of our hospital will be determined and contributed to the provision of the necessary data for the determination of the country's vaccination policies. Method: A total of 326 healthcare professionals working in risky departments for measles at Izmir Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty Hospital between June 2018 and September 2019 were included in our study. The persons who agreed to participate in the study were interviewed face to face and data registration forms were filled. Quantitative Anti-Measles IgG antibody level was determined by Enzyme-Linked-Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method from serum samples taken from healthcare workers. Results were analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 15. Results: Of the 326 healthcare workers included in the study, 79 (24.2%) participants were seronegative and 247 (75.8%) participants were seropositive. As a result of the statistical analysis, it was determined that the seronegativity decreases with increasing age (p: 0.036). In addition, it was found that those in the 21-38 age group, which are thought to be vaccinated as a single dose, were significantly higher seronegative than the 39-54 age group (p: 0.015). It was observed that the seroprevalance was not affected by gender (p: 0.260), living area in childhood(p: 0.361), occupational groups (p:0.991) and units studied (p: 0.129). Conclusions: In our study, a significant number of healthcare workers at risk for measles were found to be sensitive, and it was observed that there was not an adequate immune response especially in groups with a single dose of vaccine. Vaccination of sensitive healthcare workers is important to prevent nosocomial spread. In this case, it is recommended that all healthcare workers who do not know that they are immune, complete measles vaccines.