Rubella immunity in pregnant women in Nairobi Kenya.

Blood samples collected from 136 pregnant women (40 Asians and 96 Africans) receiving antenatal care at the Aga Khan Hospital Nairobi Kenya and 302 at the Kenyatta National Hospital at the time of delivery were tested by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) method to determine number of susceptible women. It was found that 7.3% of Africans and 15% of Asians from the Aga Khan Hospital were susceptible to Rubella compared with 3.6% at the Kenyatta National Hospital. The ethnic difference in Rubella antibody tire among the Asians and Africans could have been generated by chance due to the small size of the study sample. The outcome of pregnancies for all study groups was studied in terms of birth weight apgar score at 1 minute after birth and a clinical assessment of the newborn by a pediatrician. The mean birth weight was found to be 2.968 gms among the Aga Khan Hospital Asian group 3.191 gms among the African group and 3.057 gms among the Kenyatta National Hospital group. An examination of the birth weight of babies born to mothers with high titres i.e. 1:640 and 1:1280 in the Aga Khan Hospital group showed that the mean birth weight among the Asian babies was 3.153 gms and among the African babies it was 3.147 gms.