Seroprevalence rates of Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus among first trimester pregnant women in Istanbul

Background: Toxoplasma Gondii, Rubella, and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) are the most common causes of congenital infections worldwide. There is not a consensus on these infectious agents should be screened during pregnancy. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of toxoplasma, rubella, and CMV infections in order to know the need for antenatal screening.Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed on 1309 ambulatory pregnant patients who applied to the obstetric clinic of a university hospital between October 2016 and April 2018. Documents of patients in the first trimester were reviewed and serologic data of Toxoplasma gondii, CMV, Rubella infections were retrieved from the computer database.Results: Of 1309 pregnant women, positivity for anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody was 352(26.9%), while 17(1.3%) of the subjects tested were positive for the anti-Toxoplasma IgM antibody. These positivities of the pregnant women for anti-Rubella IgG and IgM were 1147(87.6%) and (0.1%), respectively. These positivities of the pregnant women for anti-CMV IgG and IgM were 1163(88.8%) and 17(1.3%), respectively.Conclusions: We detected high rates of immunity against Rubella and CMV but low rates of immunity against Toxoplasma in this retrospective cohort of pregnant women. Due to high rates of seropositivity against Rubella and CMV, routine nationwide screening may not be necessary