Cytomegalovirus Immunity in Pregnancy in South of Iran

Abstract

Problem statement: Fetal loss and abortion are responsible for significant emotional distress for couples desiring children. There are many documents which support the role of some certain asymptomatic infections such as Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in spontaneous abortion. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of seropositivity for CMV IgG and IgM in women with abortion and compare it with normal women with no previous history of abortion. Approach: This case-control study was carried out in Shariatee hospital of Hormozgan University of medical sciences, during 2003-2004. A number of 250 women with definite diagnosis of previous abortion and 200 matched women with normal full term delivery and negative history of miscarriage as controls were studied as case and control groups. Serum samples were obtained from participants and a demographic questionnaire was also filled for each of them. All serum samples were then tested using ELISA method for detection of anti-CMV IgM and IgG Antibodies. Data was analyzed, using SPSS software (chi square and t-test). Results: The average age was 25.6±7.6 years in case group and 25.3±6.5 years in control group. The number and percentage for CMV-IgG was 235(94%) and 150(75%) in case and control groups, respectively (p-value = 0.0001). In case group 13(5.2%) women were positive for CMV-IgM, while no positive sample was detected in control group (p-value = 0.0001). Conclusion: This study showed higher prevalence of seropositivity for CMV in women with spontaneous abortion comparing to women with normal full term delivery and suggest that cytomegalovirus plays a significant role in abortion.