Seroprevalence and risk factors for cytomegalovirus infection among pregnant women in southern Nigeria

Objective: Vertically transmitted cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common cause of preventable congenital infection,including deafness and intellectual impairment worldwide. Till date, there is no consensus on routine antenatalscreening worldwide. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of previous and primary CMV infectionamong antenatal women at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) and the effect of age, socioeconomicclass, parity and gestational age on prevalence.Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, blood samples were collected from each of 200 consecutive pregnantwomen attending the antenatal clinic of the university. Samples were analyzed for CMV specific IgG and IgM usingELISA test kits. A semi-structured researcher administered questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic informationwhich included; age, socioeconomic class, parity and gestational age.Results: Seroprevalence of CMV- specific IgG and IgM were 92% and 4% respectively, while 4% were seronegative.There was no significant association between seroprevalence and any of the risk factors (p>0.05).Conclusion: There is need for voluntary screening of pregnant women as part of antenatal care to detect primary andseronegative susceptible women. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2013; 3(3): 123-127Key words: Cytomegalovirus, seroprevalence, pregnancy, Nigeri