BMJ 1994;309:876 (1 October)

Letters

Immunity to viral infections among medical students in London

EDITOR, - Those responsible for students' health (for example, occupational health departments) frequently seek advice about immunity to viral infections among medical students. We therefore tested serum obtained between 1988 and 1990 from 199 first year students at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals (St Thomas's campus) for antibodies to measles, mumps, rubella, herpes simplex, varicella zoster, and hepatitis A viruses and to cytomegalovirus. The table gives the techniques used and results obtained.

The prevalence of antibodies to rubella virus among our female students (99%) confirms the success of the British rubella vaccination programme for schoolgirls.1 Among the male medical students, however, 17% were susceptible to rubella virus. Recent outbreaks of rubella among young men and boys2 confirm the importance of immunisation for susceptible male medical and dental students, as is now our practice here. The high prevalence of antibodies to mumps virus (98%) . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Mumps and the UK epidemic 2005
Ravindra K Gupta, Jennifer Best, and Eithne MacMahon
BMJ 2005 330: 1132-1135. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Gupta, R. K, Best, J., MacMahon, E. (2005). Mumps and the UK epidemic 2005. BMJ 330: 1132-1135 [Full text]  
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