Rubella antibody levels

[amalie]

Apologies to all this for whom this is basic stuff - I've only been researching it for a few weeks!!
I have a girlfriend who is 12 weeks pregnant and has been told her rubella antibody level is 11, with 10 being a recognised minimum. I don't think she has been recommended to vaccinate, and I would be very very scared of doing that at this stage of preg. Does anyone have any experience with this? Advice gratefully received! (She's open to not vaxing her baby and just starting to look into this now she's got that blue line!!!) :)

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Apologies to all this for whom this is basic stuff - I've only been researching it for a few weeks!!
I have a girlfriend who is 12 weeks pregnant and has been told her rubella antibody level is 11, with 10 being a recognised minimum. I don't think she has been recommended to vaccinate, and I would be very very scared of doing that at this stage of preg. Does anyone have any experience with this? Advice gratefully received! (She's open to not vaxing her baby and just starting to look into this now she's got that blue line!!!) :)

i'm sure you know your immunology 101.

The titre tests can only detect circulating antibody levels in a blood sample, which is not the only "correlate" to immunity.

Memory immunity is primarily bone marrow driven, and the medical profession has no available test which can prove that someone with low, or no peripheral immunity, has memory immunity.

the only way they confirm that is to say: "You have no immunity in your blood test, so you might get sick and your baby might die, so we need to vaccinate you to keep your baby alive."

So they give an MMR ~ yes, all three, if you please ~ and presume immunity.

If they do another titre test a month later, they would find an IgG 40-fold increase, at which point, someone (assuming they have a brain and remember their immunology 101) would say, "Oops, you've had an anamnestic response, so you did actually have long-term immunity after all". Except they don't do a follow up test, because that would force them to admit that technology in medicine, doesn't know how to measure long-term immunity.

:o And no, they would show no embarrassment at all. After all, they wouldn't have had to admit to any ignorance at all, would they? :giggle: And your friend wouldn't be any the wiser, that the medical profession's ability to test for a much broader range of markers to immunity than "just antibodies" is technically impossible at this point.

Your friend will also not know that there is considerable evidence to point to the fact that the primary immunity to rubella may actually be cellular immunity. And of course, the medical profession has no way to measure that now, do they?

:ride:

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Funny that in Australia, the acceptable level is 8, not 10. :rolleyes:

[amalie]

I forgot to say, she was vaccinated for rubella at intermediate school. in the meantime, thanks Hilary, you've summarised it for me (and her) perfectly!!!