Prevalence of Measles Antibodies in São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil: A serological survey model

Measles is an acute and highly contagious but vaccine-preventable infectious disease. Despite years of being considered eliminated, decreased vaccination rates have produced virus reemergence in several countries, including Brazil. Measles can be controlled through immunization programs, through which aim to achieve 95% coverage with two doses of the vaccine. Measles can also be controlled if suspected cases can be properly identified in order to contain outbreaks. This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of measles antibodies and their correlation with rubella antibodies (resulting from the combination vaccine used in Brazil’s public immunization program) in individuals aged higher 10 years old in São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo State, Brazil, participants of a prospective cohort of arbovirosis surveillance before virus reemergence in the country. Our findings presented that 32.9% of individuals aged 10–40 years old had not antibodies against measles; 39.3% of total individuals with documented evidence of measles vaccination did not have anti-measles IgG, though only 20.2% of individuals with documented evidence of rubella vaccination lacked anti-rubella IgG. Besides, the most of measles cases reported in the city, following the virus spreading in the country, occurred especially in groups defined by us as susceptible. Because the combination MMR vaccine is part of Brazil’s national vaccine schedule, the possible reasons for this relatively high rate of seronegativity need to be investigated further, once that it reflects outbreak risk.