Prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 antibodies among pregnant women attending Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria
Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2020, 06(01), 200-206
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2020.6.1.0093
Publication history:
Received on 09 April 2020; revised on 14 April 2020; accepted on 24 April 2020
Abstract:
Herpes simplex virus type 2 (genital herpes) is mostly asymptomatic except if the immune system is compromised. However, infections could lead to preterm delivery, low infant birth weight, still birth, hydrops, cystic brain degeneration, and fetal growth retardation. Record of the prevalence of the viral infection is scanty among pregnant women in Ekiti State, Nigeria. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 antibodies among pregnant women attending Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti. Structured questionnaires were administered to obtain information such as age, incidence of miscarriages, marital status and number of pregnancies among the women who were examined. Ninety (90) pregnant women were examined for the presence of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) IgG and IgM antibodies using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Prevalence of HSV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies among pregnant women was 64.4 % and 2.2 % respectively. A significant (p<0.05) number of the pregnant women recorded presence of IgG antibody to the virus. There was no statistical significant (p>0.05) difference between the prevalence of HSV-2 IgG antibody across age ranges, number of miscarriages, marital status and number of pregnancies. There may be need for antenatal screening of pregnant women for this virus in Ekiti State and perhaps generally in pregnancy to rule out the presence of genital herpes. With the risk of infection to fetus in mind, health policy makers may campaign against genital herpes to avert transmission of the virus to fetus before birth or after child birth.
Keywords:
HSV-2; Pregnant women; Prevalence; Antibodies; HSV-2; Sexual behavior.
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Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0