Test Code RUBEO Rubeola (Measles) Antibodies, IgG
Additional Codes
Epic: LAB657
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: 9 days
Frozen: >9 days
Reference Range
≥ 16.5
A positive result indicates exposure to measles virus or previous
vaccination 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
Measles is an acute viral illness caused by a morbillivirus of
the paramyxovirus family and is one of the most easily transmitted
diseases. Transmission is primarily by large droplet spread or
direct contact with nasal or throat secretions from an infected
person.
After infection, measles virus invades the respiratory epithelium
of the nasopharynx and spreads to the regional lymph nodes. After
two to three days of replication in these sites, primary viremia
widens the infection to the reticu-loendothelial system. Following
further replication, secondary viremia occurs five to seven days
after infection and lasts four to seven days. During this viremia,
infection and further virus replication may occur in skin,
conjunctivae, respiratory tract and other organs, including spleen,
thymus, lung, liver, and kidney. Viremia peaks 11-14 days after
infection, and then declines rapidly over a few days .
Prior to vaccine availability, measles was mostly a disease of
childhood, but measles vaccination programs (part of measles,
mumps, rubella, varicella [MMRV] vaccination) have had a marked
effect on the incidence of the disease and the complications
associated with it. After prolonged periods of high vaccine
coverage in developed countries, measles transmission now occurs
mainly in people that have never been vaccinated and in older
children who did not seroconvert following vaccination. Measles
outbreaks can still occur in countries with high immunization
coverage. Such outbreaks demonstrate an immunity gap in the
population involved.
Clinically, the diagnosis of measles is supported if Koplik's spots
are detected and if the rash progresses from the head to the trunk
and out to the extremities. The non-specific nature of the
prodromal signs and the existence of mild cases, however, make
clinical signs unreliable as the sole diagnostic criteria of
measles disease. As disease prevalence falls, many medical
practitioners are inexperienced in recognizing measles, increasing
the need for laboratory serological method of distinguishing
measles from other clinically similar diseases .
Both IgM and IgG antibodies are synthesized during the primary
immune response and can be detected in the serum within a few days
of rash onset. IgM antibody levels peak after about seven to ten
days and then decline rapidly, being rarely detectable after six to
eight weeks. IgM is generally not detected in an immune individual
following re-exposure to measles virus . Re-exposure to the measles
virus induces a strong anamnestic immune response with a rapid
boosting of IgG antibodies, which prevents clinical disease.
Method Name
Chemiluminescent Immunoassay (CLIA)
Day(s) Performed
Daily