Morbillos and antibodies: is there a way to find out if a person has them and therefore is immune to contagion?

Are there serological tests that can establish if a person has antibodies and therefore is immune to measles (for vaccination or previous disease)? If you have not vaccinated, is it useful to do it after contact with a sick person?

Respond Andrea GoriDirector of Infectious Diseases Department, ASST Fatebene-Framelli Sacco, Sacco Hospital, Univ. Of Milan (Go to the forum)

The measles It is an extremely contagious respiratory viral disease. It is estimated, in fact, that more than 90% of people do not immune exposed to an infected individual. The disease, which in most cases has a favorable course, however, it can have serious consequences, such as pneumonia or encephalitis potentially fatalespecially if it is contracted in adulthood and particularly in adults or children immunocompromised. Although the vaccination, the only tool for preventing the infection, has significantly reduced the cases of measles, Epidemic outbreaks are far from rareabove all because vaccination rates are still far from the 95% safety threshold established by the World Health Organization.

Vaccination coverage

In Italy, in fact, in 2023, among the children for whom vaccination was indicated by the national vaccination prevention plan, Only 85% received both doses foreseen, with large differences between the regions. The problem of measles is very current and represents a public health problem: In the first two months of 2025 in Italy 127 cases have already occurred (9 times out of 10 in unvaccinated people)a constantly increasing figure compared to the same period of previous years. As well as from vaccinationavailable in Italy since the late seventies, Morbill immunity is also guaranteed by natural diseasebut for most people it is difficult to reconstruct clearly whether it has been affected or not by the pathology during childhood.

Antibody dosage

So how can you find out if you are immune to measles? It is possible to dose antibodies IgG type for measles present in the blood through a simple blood samplingwhose prescription can be requested from your general practitioner. If these antibodies were absent or not sufficient, You can decide to undergo vaccination regardless of circumstances or to consider this data in the event that you come into contact with a person suffering from the disease. For people not immune who have been exposed to a case ascertained of measles, there is an indication of the administration of a dose of vaccine within 72 hours of contact. Vaccination is the most effective weapon at our disposal and we must take advantage of it fully, not only by vaccinating the children in a widespread way, but also using it as adults in all necessary cases.