Prevalence of Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) among Pregnant Libyan Women

Abstract

The CMV is a member of the order Herpesvirales, family Herpesviridae, and genus Beta-herpesvirinae, it is one of eight herpes viruses known to infect humans and is one of the most common congenital infections that complicate pregnancies and the well-being of newborns. The present study is a cross sectional study conducted in Benghazi / Libya over a period of (January-December) 2022 to estimate the prevalence of CMV-IgG and CMV-IgM in 150 pregnant Libyan women, with age range between 18-46 years old (mean ag 28.73) at any gestational period attending Benghazi medical center and Al-kish polyclinic, demographic and historical data like age, gestational period, parity, number of abortions, past surgery and gravidity, were collected by well structured data collection sheet. The sera were obtained from the blood samples, IgG, IgM antibodies were quantified by Elecsys according to the manufacturer instructions. Obtained results were analyzed using the appropriate statistical analysis. The results of CMV seroprevalence revealed that, 42 % of study subjects had exposed to CMV infection at some point of their life, and may also had be latent infection, 34% of study subjects were susceptible to infection with CMV, 24% had acute or recent infection. A significant association between CMV, age and education levels, 55.56 % of pregnant women with high education level showed recent or reactive state, 41.18% were susceptible to infection, while 33.33% showed previous or latent infection. There was a highly significant association between CMV seroprevalence and residence, pregnant women living in urban areas, had more recent or reactive infection and higher susceptibility to infection in the future than those living in rural regions. Parity was a significantly associated with CMV seroprevalence, multi-parity women showed more reactive or recent CMV infection, no significant association of CMV seroprevalence and gestational age of pregnant women was found, no significant association of these characters and CMV seroprevalence.