Occupational health regulations (in Germany mainly the “Biostoffverordnung”) oblige employers to protect employees against occupational biological hazards. To acertain the individual level of protection against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella a variety of laboratory tests are used. Simple (cheap) routine tests are sometimes insufficiently sensitive. In the case of pertussis individual protection cannot be verified by serology. Therefore other criteria have to be used to determine the immune status. Protection against these diseases may be provided by vaccination; the different levels of protection are discussed. Finally the options for postexposure prophylaxis for persons with insufficient immunity are reviewed with special attention to pregnant women.
