Measles antibody titre is children up to 5 years of age in rural areas of Aligarh District, India

Objective: To determine the pattern of decline of maternal antibodies in 0- 9 months old infants and to study the prevalence Of measles antibodies and their levels in 9 months to 5 years old children, regardless of their immun ization status. Method: A cross-sectional study covering 456 children in the 0-5 year age g roup residing in 9 registered villages in a rural area of Aligarh District was conducted. The study Included the interview of parents, clinical examin ation of children, and Hemagglutination inhibition Test for Measles Antibod y Titre. Results: There was rapid decline in seropositivity from 100% in the 0-3 mon ths age group to 18% in the 6-9 months age group, There was a positive corr elation (r = 0.77) between decline of seropositivity and age. Measles immun ization coverage rate was 64.5%. In 202 children where immunization was con firmed by availability of card, sero-conversion was 96.5%. Of the 118 unvac cinated children, 9% were sere-positive. Of the 71 children who had a histo ry of measles infection, 75% were seropositive indicating correct identific ation of measles infection by the parents.