ToRCH infections (toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus and Herpes simplex virus) have long been known to be associated with bad obstetric outcomes. However, little information is available about the impact of ToRCH co-infections on the outcome of pregnancy. Hence, we tested the IgG and IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes Simplex Virus among 81 pregnant women with abortion (case group) and 98 pregnant women with normal delivery (control group). In the single-infection model, only CMV-IgM seropositivity was significantly increased in case than control group (25.9% in case and 12.2 % in control, OR = 2.5, P = 0.019). In the co-infection model, 14 patterns were recognized, but two patterns were significantly increased in the case than the control group. Co-infection of T. gondii IgG + CMV IgM was 9.1-fold increased in the case than the control group (8.6% in the case and 1% in control, OR = 9.1; P = 0.024). Also, co-infection of T. gondii IgG + HSV IgG + CMV IgM was 7.7-fold increased in case than the control group (7.4% in case and 1 % in control, OR = 7.7; P = 0.04). Although the OR of other co-infections was higher in the case than the control group, the difference was not statistically significant. These findings indicate that ToRCH co-infections are associated with increased risk of abortion than single infection. Hence, the rates of co-infections should be considered in prenatal screening of ToRCH infections.

We aimed to describe SARS-CoV-2 strains in Iranians from nine distributed cities infected during two months expanding late 2020 and early 2021 by genotyping known informative single nucleotide in five PCR amplicons. Two variants associated with haplotype H1 (clade G) and nine additional variants associated with other haplotypes were genotyped, respectively, in RNA isolates of 244 and 85 individuals. The variants associated with the H1a (GR) and H1b (GH) haplotypes were most prevalent, indicating a significant change in infection pattern with passage of time. The most important findings were that recombinant genomes and co-infection, respectively, were surmised in 44.7% and 12.9% of the samples extensively genotyped. Partners of many of the recombinations were relatively common strains. Co-existing viruses were among those currently circulating in Iran. In addition to random mutations, co-infection with different existing strains and recombination between their genomes may significantly contribute to the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 strains.

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Results of this study revealed that the rate of PCR positive in women with abortion and stillbirth was 3.7 times higher than that in normal delivery, but the difference was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that toxoplasmosis can be involved in etiology of abortion and stillbirth.

BackgroundCervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in females. Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the major risk factor of cervical cancer.ObjectivesThe aim of the current study was to explore the frequency and role of 23 different HPVs in patients with cervical cancer.Materials and MethodsOverall, 117 formalin-fix and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues from cervical cancer patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) or dysplasia were collected from Mirza-Kochakkhan-Jangali hospital, Tehran, Iran during year 2013, to investigate the presence of HPV- HPV- 67, 68, 6, 11, 13, 16, 17, 30, 69, 39, 40, 42, 64, 66 and 51 to 59 genotypes.ResultsThe Pap smear report illustrated the presence of malignancy in 71 cases, while 11 cases had no evidence of malignancy. Among the patients, 26 cases had sexually transmitted disease with relative frequency of 0.58. Infection with papilloma virus was observed in 83.6% of SCC patients and 45% of the dysplasia group. The most prevalent HPV genotypes were 18 with 31.62% and 16 with 27.35% of cases. Moreover the relative frequencies of HPV-33, -6, -58, -52, -35 and -51, genotypes were 15.38, 7.69, 5.98, 5.12 and 3.41%, respectively. Among the different genotypes of HPV, 31 had the lowest and 16 had the highest relative frequency.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that HPV-16 and -18 have a higher prevalence in our population than 31 and 51. Further investigations are required to evaluate the role of these genotypes in a larger multicenter setting for establishing their values for early detection of patients, which is useful for screening and vaccination programs of cancerous and precancerous lesions of cervical cancer.