Seroprevalence of HIV, HTLV, CMV, HBV and rubella virus infections in pregnant adolescents who received care in the city of Belém, Pará, Northern Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundPrenatal tests are important for prevention of vertical transmission of various infectious agents. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), rubella virus and vaccination coverage against HBV in pregnant adolescents who received care in the city of Belém, Pará, Brazil.MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed with 324 pregnant adolescents from 2009 to 2010. After the interview and blood collection, the patients were screened for antibodies and/or antigens against HIV-1/2, HTLV-1/2, CMV, rubella virus and HBV. The epidemiological variables were demonstrated using descriptive statistics with the G, χ2 and Fisher exact tests.ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 15.8 years, and the majority (65.4%) had less than 6 years of education. The mean age at first intercourse was 14.4 years, and 60.8% reported having a partner aged between 12 and 14 years. The prevalence of HIV infection was 0.3%, and of HTLV infection was 0.6%. Regarding HBV, 0.6% of the participants had acute infection, 9.9% had a previous infection, 16.7% had vaccine immunity and 72.8% were susceptible to infection. The presence of anti-HBs was greater in adolescent between 12 and 14 years old (28.8%) while the anti-HBc was greater in adolescent between 15 and 18 years old (10.3%). Most of the adolescents presented the IgG antibody to CMV (96.3%) and rubella (92.3%). None of the participants had acute rubella infection, and 2.2% had anti-CMV IgM.ConclusionsThis study is the first report of the seroepidemiology of infectious agents in a population of pregnant adolescents in the Northern region of Brazil. Most of the adolescents had low levels of education, were susceptible to HBV infection and had IgG antibodies to CMV and rubella virus. The prevalence of HBV, HIV and HTLV was similar to that reported in other regions of Brazil. However, the presence of these agents in this younger population reinforces the need for good prenatal follow-up and more comprehensive vaccination campaigns against HBV due to the large number of women susceptible to the virus.

Molecular detection of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 in pregnant women from Maranhão state, Brazil

“…In recent years, molecular methods for the diagnosis of different types of infectious agents have revolutionized diagnostic medicine because of their high sensitivity, specificity, and rapidity [33]. This study is the first to use PCR as a molecular diagnostic screening method for HTLV-1 in pregnant Brazilian women, while previous studies have used this technique only as a confirmatory and discriminatory test [26,30,[34][35][36][37][38][39]. In the present study, the PCR technique detected a prevalence of 0.7% (5/713) of HTLV-1 in the pregnant women who were analyzed.…”

The challenge of describing the epidemiology of HTLV in the Amazon region of Brazil

“…Human infections by HTLV in the Amazon region of Brazil have been recorded by several studies involving blood donors [82,[98][99][100][101][102], pregnant women [103][104][105][106], urban familial aggregates [42] and native Indians [6,56] (Fig. 1).…”

“…A comprehensive investigation detected HTLV-1 among 0.3% (n = 39) of 13,382 pregnant women in Belém and one person infected with HTLV-2 [103]. Later, another prevalence rate of 0.61% was detected in pregnant women in Belém [106]. A prevalence rate (4.7%) of antibodies against HTLV, detected by enzyme immune assay, was described among residents along the shores of the Tucurui hydroelectric power plant [117].…”

Seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus and its coinfection with Epstein-Barr virus in adult residents from Manaus: a population-based study

“…Another study carried out in Santa Catarina from 2006 to 2007 found a cytomegalovirus prevalence of 89.3% in 233 solid organ donors 10 . Recently, a cross-sectional study performed with 324 pregnant adolescents between 2009 and 2010 in Belém city showed that IgG seropositivity for cytomegalovirus was found in 96.3% of participants 11 . These differences may be explained by the fact that the participants belonged to specific groups, which may not be representative of the general population.…”