Immune status in infection by cytomegalovirus in women with bad obstetric history

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:Viral infections during pregnancy carry a risk for intrauterine transmission which may result in fetal damage. Bad obstetric history implies for previous unfavorable foetal outcome in terms of two or more consecutive spontaneous abortions, history of intrauterine foetal death, intrauterine growth retardation, still birth, early neonatal death and congenital anomalies. Cytomegalovirus, a ubiquitous virus belonging to the herpes family, is known to cause abnormal fetal outcome. We aim to determine the possible involvement of CMV infection among pregnant women with bad obstetric history MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out among 136 women with bad obstetric outcome attending Dhulikhel HospitalKathmandu University Hospital. The cytomegalovirus specific IgG and IgM antibodies were determined by ELISA test. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 17.0 and interpreted according to frequency distribution and percentage. The data was considered significant if the p-value was <0.05. RESULTS:The results revealed that 87 (63.9%) out of 136 patients were positive for CMV IgG antibodies and only one (0.007%) patient was positive for CMV IgM. The majority of the patients were of the age between 20 and 29 years (99/136) and it was observed that most of the positive CMV IgG were participants of the same age group (63/ 99). There was no significant association of CMV seropositivity with the age of participants (p value 0.9).CONCLUSION: CMV infection could be the risk factor for BOH and may play a vital role in determining the foetal outcome. Thus we recommend routine serological testing to all pregnant women with or without BOH attending the antenatal clinics for both CMV specific IgG and IgM.

Seroprevalance of ToRCH Infection –A Laboratory Profile

“…Even seropositivity to IgM, in our study (23.07%) fall within the range observed in India, 0.8% to 34.7 % [15,16]. But our findings were much higher than previous study from Nepal, which found 63.9% and 0.1% seropositivity to cytomegalovirus IgG and IgM respectively [17].…”

“…[15,16] In a study conducted in a hospital from central Nepal the seropositivity to CMV in women was found to be 63.9% and 0.1% for IgG and IgM respectively. [17] Herpes Simplex Virus infection is common. HSV-1 is common amongst children, transmitted non-sexually and presenting as herpes labialis, while HSV-2 is sexually transmitted and causes genital herpes.…”

Serological Screening of TORCH Agents as an Etiology of Spontaneous Abortion in Dhulikhel Hospital, Nepal

“…Reportedly, nearly half of the Nepalese are Toxoplasma gondii seropositive according to a study conducted almost 16 years ago (22). Occasional hospital based studies have revealed different rates of seropositivity for TORCH agents (12,13,23). An 80% positive rate of anti-HSV antibodies was found in early childhood (1-4 years) that further increased with age (96.1% positive in greater than 15 years age).…”