Cytomegalovirus Infection Among Women with Recurrent Miscarriages

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The foetal consequences of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection have made it one of the most serious infections contracted during pregnancy. Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL)/recurrent miscarriage (RM) is a challenging problem for the Obstetrician. Human cytomegalovirus is a major cause of congenital infection and has been implicated as a cause of pregnancy loss. Knowledge about the magnitude of this problem in our locality will help in developing methods of prevention of this infection and prompt treatment of infection will improve obstetric outcome. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of CMV infection among women with recurrent pregnancy loss, establish if there is an association between CMV infection and recurrent pregnancy loss and assess the level of awareness of CMV. METHODOLOGY: This was a multi centred cross-sectional study involving 42 pregnant women presenting with recurrent miscarriage and 42 postnatal women with no previous history of miscarriages or poor obstetric outcome. Interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic information which included; age, socioeconomic class, parity and gestational age at present pregnancy loss. Blood samples were collected from the respondents and cytomegalovirus antibodies (IgG and IgM) were assayed for in both groups. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.
RESULTS/CONCLUSION: The seroprevalence of CMV IgG among women with recurrent miscarriage and normal women was 85.7% and 76.2% respectively. There was no significant association between CMV infection and recurrent miscarriage (p =0.405 and 0.676 for IgG and IgM respectively). The level of awareness of the respondents about CMV was low (4.8%). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that due to the high seroprevalence of CMV and the low level of awareness of CMV infection among the respondents, all pregnant women should be educated about CMV and the methods of prevention of CMV infection. Patients with recurrent miscarriage should also be counselled about CMV.