Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma, Rubella, CMV and HSV infection at a teaching hospital: A 7 year study from North India | Semantic Scholar (2024)

Serological evaluation for the TORCH complex in all pregnant women is recommended to determine infection immunity, current immunization regimens, and infection reactivation.

The study indicates that infection with CMV constitutes a significant portion of suspected infants and recommends special attention to take steps concerning early management.

The rate of vertical transmission of congenitalCMV is higher for twins than singletons and suggests a possible genetic susceptibility to congenital CMV.

Serological screening is contributed to the prevention of congenital infections due to TORCH agent, therefore, all the antenatal cases should be routinely screened for the TORCH infections, for carrying out early interventions to prevent fetal loss.

Maternal age of ≤25years, primi gravida, and consanguinity contributed to fetal congenital malformation in the present pregnancy while maternal age of ≥30years and ≥3 gravida towards BOH.

It would be beneficial to screen pregnant women for CMV IgM antibodies is beneficial and will help guide the testing of newborns suspected to be infected with CMV in order that appropriate therapy of the infected infants can be instituted promptly and appropriate advice can be rendered on prevention of transmission.

The study indicated that infection with CMV is more common than the rubella virus, and screening for rubella infection may be reserved for women with obstetric complications only.

Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection among pregnant women of Northeast India is relatively low and the generation of awareness among high risk groups may have played key role to limit the infection.

Through the IgG estimation, this study has shown that maximum proportion of the tested patients has been pre exposed and acquired resistance to rubella virus.

A previous history of pregnancy wastage and the serological reaction for TORCH infections during current pregnancy must be considered while managing BOH cases so as to reduce the adverse fetal outcome.

The results suggest the importance of the determination of IgM anti-parvovirus B19 in pregnant women who are symptomatic but with a negative result for rubella and establish an interest in continuing similar studies in order to monitor the immunization plan.

Perinatal infections account for 2% to 3% of all congenital anomalies, and recognition of maternal disease and fetal monitoring once disease is recognized are important for all clinicians.

This study showed significant correlation between HSV infection and abortion, and HSV-2 being a preventable and treatable sexually transmitted disease should be actively looked for in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with bad obstetric history.

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