Measles Antibodies

[ang1e0251]

A number of years ago I worked for a few months in our hospital pharmacy. I had to show proof of measles vaccination. I had never been vaccinated for measles because when the vaccine came out and the rest of my family had their shots, I was recovering from chicken pox. Even though I felt fine the dr felt I should wait another week as this was a live vaccine. The next week was spring break and we drove Missouri where my dad was on a job. By the second day, I had the measles. I was very sick.

Anyway, I explained this to the hospital and they drew blood and said they were checking my antibodies to verify my illness. The test came back positive and that was that.

Now I'm wondering how they know what antibodies show measles. Does anyone know that? I tried to look it up but had no luck. How do they know what are measles and could have been celiac disease? I haven't had any tests for celiac disease and have gluten-free for more than a year. I started to wonder if that old test could show I had celiac disease way back when...is this possible?

[JennyC]

They look for the measles antibody in your serum. They do this by screening for antibodies using the measles antigen, such as measles protein. The measles antigen is usually immobilized on a surface, such as a plate or well. Then your serum is added and any measles antibody you might have in your serum will bind to the measles antigen on the plate. Then the plate is washed and another conjugated antibody is added that binds to your antibody This second antibody is capable of fluorescing or producing a color change which is measured. This indicates a positive result. They can also perform this test on dilutions of your serum to achieve a quantitative result. There are variations on the testing methods, but this is a common and basic method. I hope this helps. Basically it is a specific reaction between a measles component and your measles antibody.

[ang1e0251]

Thanks for the answer. I really never knew how that worked. I wondered if there was that test out there that might have shown the beginnings of celiac disease way back then. It doesn't sound like it.