Epidemiological profile of rubella in Angola, from 2010 to 2015

Introduction : rubella is an infectious exanthematous disease caused by a virus of the rubivirus genus of the togoviridae family. In Angola, Rubella is not part of the schedule of routine vaccination in health units; no vaccination strategy against the disease has been implemented in women of childbearing age. This study is carried out to know the epidemiological profile of Rubella in Angola. Methods : a retrospective descriptive study using secondary data from the National Institute of Public Health database from January 2010 to December 2015 was performed. For each patient a volume of 4 ml of blood was collected through venipuncture and siliconized vacutainer tube with inert and activated separator, containing no anticoagulant. IgM antibody tests against rubella virus were performed by ELISA with EnzygnostTBM reagent kits for the detection of specific IgM antibodies against rubella virus in human serum and plasma. Results : a total of 4321 suspected cases of exanthematous disease had samples collected and processed by the National Reference Laboratory, of which 552 were positive for rubella, 2006 were positive for measles and 1763 were negative. In 2015, there were 242 cases (44%), followed by 201 (139%), where 298 were female and 254 were male. The most affected age group was 15 (22%), followed by the age group of 10-14 years old with 114 (20%), with regard to notification by provinces, all registered cases, but the one that most reported was Luanda with 191 (25%) followed Of Cuanza Sul with 88 (11%).