ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Open Access

Al-Rashedi Mohammed1 , Elrashdy M. Redwan1,2 and Hussein A. Almehdar1

1Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah. KSA.
2Therapeutic and Protective Proteins Laboratory, Protein Research Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Institute, City for Scientific Research and Technology Applications, New Borg EL-Arab 21934, Alexandria, Egypt.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2017;11(1):31-35
https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.11.1.05 | © The Author(s). 2017
Received: 12/10/2016 | Accepted: 22/11/2016 | Published: 31/03/2017
Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of diphtheria by a cross-sectional in Saudi population. The size of the population consisted of five-hundred healthy subjects from the western regions of Saudi Arabia from six months to 96 years age. ELISA assay kits was used to titers anti-diphtheria IgG. According to the widely used criteria, 31.7% of the total population was susceptible to diphtheria (IgG level <0.15 IU/ml), 15.7% had basic protection (0.15–1.0 IU/ml), and 52.6% had full protection (>1.0 IU/ml). The majority (82%) of the population from 6 months to 96 years had a protective level of IgG against diphtheria. The frequencies of susceptibility were relatively high in middle-aged periods (30.2 – 37.5% of subjects aged 21–50 years). Significantly, more females (20.7%) than males (15%) were unprotected against diphtheria. In conclusion, monitoring immunization status and administering the diphtheria vaccine as required are essential to ensure adequate and long-lasting antibody levels.

Keywords

Diphtheria, Sero-prevalence, Immunity.

Article Metrics

Article View: 1507

Share This Article

© The Author(s) 2017. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.