Seroprevalence and Risk of Primary Maternal HCMV Infection among Pregnant Women in Taiz City, Yemen

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.