Seroepidemiology Of Human Cytomegalovirus In Pregnant Women and their Neonates In Kerman City During 2005

Introduction: Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) or Human Herpes Virus Type-5(HHV-5) is a member of herpesviridae placed in subtype beta herpesvirinae. CMV is a ubiquitous pathogenic virus and can infect humans all through their life. Prevalence of CMV infection in developed countries is about 45% and in developing countries it varies up to 100%. CMV infection during pregnancy is very important, because it can threat life of both mother and her fetus, and it can cause congenital defects. Maternal infection is a determining factor in neonatal infection. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence rate of CMV infection as well as the relationship between underlying factors of this infection in women and their neonates in Kerman. Methods: ELISA technique and Diagnostic Kits (EIA WELL, Rome, Italy) were used to determine the seroprevalence of 794 samples (397 maternal, 397 neonatal) collected from 5 delivery centers in Kerman. Results: The frequency distributions of maternal primary infection, secondary infection, immune mothers and seronegative cases were respectively 0.76% (3 cases), 32.24% (128 cases), 59.7% (237 cases) and 7.3% (29 cases). Seroprevalence rate for CMV-IgG and CMV-IgM of mothers were respectively, 33.8% (134 cases) and 91.94% (365 cases). No significant relationship was found between CMV infection and factors of mother’s age and occupation, husband’s occupation, number of children, parity, family income, previous history of abortion, pervious history of blood transfusion and organ transplant, febrile disease during pregnancy and place of residency; however, mother’s educational level showed a significant relation (P=0.38). Conclusion: Due to high prevalence rate of CMV found in this study, further studies about the diagnosis, epidemiology and detection of CMV primary infections in mothers and their neonates, are highly recommended. .