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Screening of Herpes simplex virus 2 infection among pregnant women in southern China
Author(s) -
LI JiaMin,
CHEN YongRu,
LI XiTao,
XU WenCan
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.2010.00966.x
Subject(s) - pregnancy , medicine , asymptomatic , herpes simplex virus , subclinical infection , obstetrics , antibody , herpes genitalis , sex organ , confidence interval , immunology , virus , genital herpes , biology , genetics
The aim was to investigate the prevalence of Herpes simplex virus (HSV)‐2 infection among pregnant women in southern China and analyze the relationship between the HSV‐2 infection and pregnancy outcome. We examined 1740 sera collected from pregnant women aged 21–39 years, using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of specific antibodies against HSV‐2. The overall prevalence of HSV‐2 infection was 23.56% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 21.53–26.00). The prevalence of HSV‐2 infection in the women with abnormal pregnancy was 35.93% (95% CI = 26.23–42.44) (83/231), which was much higher than that in women who had been pregnant before but without abnormal pregnancy and that in the primipara group. ( P < 0.05). The presence of HSV‐2 antibodies was also associated with status of education. The prevalence of HSV‐2 infection in the 26–30‐year age group (27.49%) (95% CI = 24.53–30.33) was the highest among all age groups. The prevalence of HSV‐2 infection in pregnant women in southern China is quite high. Women with asymptomatic or subclinical genital infection should be identified by examining the HSV‐2 antibody, which would be helpful to reduce the abnormal pregnancy outcome.