Prevalence of Protective Immunity for Diphtheria, Measles and Rubella among Myanmar, Cambodian and Laos Migrant Workers in Thailand

Abstract

Immunization is an important and cost-effective strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality from common vaccine-preventable diseases. High vaccine coverage to reach herd immunity level is crucial for disease control. During the last 5 years, there was a resurgence of some vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in several area of Thailand. One possible reason is the population movement, particularly illegal migrant workers. Purposes of this study were to determine seroprevalence of 4 vaccine preventable dis-eases, including diphtheria, measles and rubella among migrant populations in Thailand. The study was conducted among a sample of 400 migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Loas aged over 18 years who worked in ten study site as factory and a large wholesale market in Pathumthani province using the stratified random sampling method. Data were collected by interviewing using a structured question-naire. Statistical data analyses performed in this study included ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test for con-tinuous variables and Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact for categorical variables. The results showed that, among total samples, the highest proportion of protective immunity is measles (92.19%), followed by diphtheria (86.25%) and rubella (75.13%). Laos workers had the highest protective immunity level for diphtheria (88.12%) while Myanmar workers had the highest protective immunity level for measles and rubella, 94.67% and 81.17%, respectively. Based on study findings, responsible authorities do not need to actively provide immunization services for diphtheria, measles, and rubella for migrant workers from the three countries. But the immunization program is still necessary for children accompanying those workers.