Seroprevalence and Risk of Primary Maternal HCMV Infection among Pregnant Women in Taiz City, Yemen
Hafez Alsumairy
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen
Talal Alharazi *
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen
Samirah Alkhuleedi
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen
Waheed Alswiadi
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: To determine the risk of primary and previous HCMV infection among antenatal women in Taiz city.
Study Design: A descriptive cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out on 100 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic and hospitals of Taiz city during April to September 2014.
Methodology: A 100 Serum specimens were collected and screened for the presence of HCMV-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) IgG/IgM antibodies using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The anti-HCMV-IgM antibody positive specimens were further subjected to avidity test. Consenting participants were instructed to fill a semi-structured questionnaire to obtain demographic and other related data. Results analysis was prepared using Pearson’s chi squared test for analytical assessment.
Results: Protective anti-HCMV-IgG antibody was detected in 99% pregnant women and 1% were vulnerable to infection. The 2% of anti-HCMV-IgM seropositive were undergoing a recurrent HCMV infection, according to the high avidity (>60%) test results interpretation. Statistically significant association (P< 0.05) between the anti-HCMV-IgG seropositivity of HCMV antibody and parity and blood transfusion was found.
Conclusion: Despite the very high seroprevalence of anti-HCMV-IgG protective antibody (99%) among pregnant women in Taiz city, there is no primary infection detected. Screening test of pregnant women to detect primary and seronegative susceptible women is necessary. A comprehensive study with a large sample size would be required.
Keywords: Human cytomegalovirus, ELISA, HCMV, pregnant women, Taiz, IgG, IgM