Test Code RUBEG Rubella Antibodies, IgG
Additional Codes
Epic: LAB496
Specimen Required
Specimen Type: Serum
Collection Container/Type
Preferred: Serum gel
Acceptable: Red top
Submission Container/Tube: Plastic vial
Specimen Volume: 3 mL
Collection Instructions: Centrifuge and separate cells after clot formation and within 4 hours of collection.
Specimen Minimum Volume
0.5 mL
Specimen Stability
Room temperature: Unacceptable
Refrigerated: 3 days
Frozen: >3 days
Reference Range
≥ 1.00
A positive result indicates the presence of IgG antibodies to
rubella virus and provides presumptive evidence of immunity.
Rejection Due To
Unlabeled, mislabeled, wrong tube type, QNS, severely hemolyzed samples and any sample from which the lipid layer has not been removed.
Report Available
1 day
Clinical Significance
Rubella is a viral exanthematous, infectious disease that
typically follows a benign clinical course. Symptomatology is
generally characterized by fever, with maculopapular rash
accompanied by enlargement of lymph nodes .
Widespread vaccination of children has greatly reduced the
incidence of rubella in the general population. However, total
eradication of rubella in the population is unlikely. Because many
rash illnesses mimic rubella and because many rubella infections
are asymptomatic, rubella can often be overlooked or misdiagnosed
.
By far, the greatest consequence of rubella is Congenital Rubella
Syndrome (CRS), which could cause miscarriages, stillbirths, fetal
abnormalities, and therapeutic abortions as a result of infection
in early pregnancy, especially in the first trimester. Fetal
abnormalities may be hepatosplenomegaly, psychomotor retardation,
bone alterations, cardiopathies, or neuropathies. Pathological
consequences to the fetus depend on the virus teratogenic potency
and on when the infection is contracted during pregnancy. The
consequences to the fetus are highest in cases of rubella infection
during the first two months of pregnancy, but decrease
progressively if infection occurs at the 4th or 5th month . The
risk of severe neonatal complication points to the need for
accurate methods to determine the immune status of women of
childbearing age.
Reinfection can occur following either naturally acquired or
vaccine-induced immunity, but is much more likely to occur in the
latter. Reinfection is almost always subclinical and is defined by
a rise in preexisting antibody. Viremia and systemic manifestation
are uncommon. The risk of fetal transmission and subsequent CRS
resulting from maternal reinfection during pregnancy is low .
Since the availability of the vaccine in the late 1960s, the assay
of rubella IgG has been widely used to determine the immune status,
to determine the need for vaccination and to evaluate vaccine
efficacy and screening for rubella virus is now generally performed
by immunoassay . Specific IgG antibodies generally appear several
weeks postinfection; reach their maximum concentration and then
progressively decrease to a low level persisting for life.
Rubella vaccines will induce the production of IgG antibodies
similar to that observed with natural infection. However, antibody
titers following vaccination may be delayed and somewhat lower than
the titers observed with natural infections .
Method Name
Chemiluminescent Immunoassay (CLIA)
Day(s) Performed
Monday - Friday