Today, the most common pathology are diseases of an infectious nature. Caused by the ingestion of pathogenic viruses and microorganisms, these diseases are unique in their kind. Firstly, this is due to the body's ability to synthesize disease-specific antibodies, which determines the presence of immunity (immunity to this nosological form), and secondly, to preserve their persistence in the blood for a long time, causing a stable and often lifelong immunity.
If it is not possible to ensure the proper level of antibodies in the blood during a single vaccination, the revaccination (one or several) is carried out in a timely manner. Among diseases of an infectious nature, measles plays an important role. Measles virus, like any other, when it enters the human body, contributes to the fact that antibodies to measles begin to be synthesized.
Antibodies are agents containing a whole complex of antigenic information (information about foreign proteins of a virus that has entered the body), which determines the further recognition and destruction of the virus. Measles was previously a very common and severe infection, but with the advent of the era of universal immunization, it became vaccine-controlled (that is, the disease does not occur in immunized individuals). Measles appears only in the absence of immunization or in case of weakened immunity. The latter can be associated both with the individual characteristics of the body of an individual person, and in the case when antibodies to measles (or rather their titer) in the blood serum are sharply reduced.
Measles mainly affects the child population. Most cases of the disease proceed normally without the development of any complications. Currently, wariness for measles infection remains in connection with the serious consequences of such in pregnant women. So, with measles during pregnancy, it is possible to develop premature birth, spontaneous abortion and stillbirth. An analysis of measles antibodies is the main, and perhaps the only way to detect immunocompromised individuals. As for the detection of the disease itself, the clinical picture of the disease is quite typical and diagnosis is rarely difficult. However, there are still cases when it is necessary to conduct differential diagnostics with other diseases, in this case reliable information can be obtained by conducting serological tests (detecting IgM and IgG levels), for which blood is taken for measles antibodies. In order to determine measles immunoglobulins, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is performed .
Unlike the latter, class M immunoglobulins do not cross the placenta and persist only for five to seven weeks. These antibodies indicate the presence of acute measles infection or its recent transmission.
Antibodies to measles are currently being identified mainly for two purposes. The first is an assessment of the tension of measles immunity. The second is a retrospective diagnosis of infectious pathology.
As for the diagnostically significant changes in the general analysis of blood in the acute phase of the disease, a decreased level of white blood cells (neutrophils, leukocytes, monocytes, lymphocytes) is detected. The level of eosinophils or body data is completely absent. Typical is a change in the erythrocyte sedimentation rate upward.
Thus, due to immunization (the inclusion of measles in the mandatory calendar of preventive vaccinations), as well as periodic monitoring of the level of measles immunoglobulins in the blood serum of women in the fertile period and directly during pregnancy planning, measles infection has become vaccine-controlled, and the frequency of occurrence of this pathology has sharply decreased.