Sero-prevalence of Cytomegalovirus, Rubella, Herpes Simplex Virus, Varicella Zoster Virus, Measles, Parvovirus B19, and Adenovirus in women with spontaneous abortion.

Objective: To study sero-prevalence and incidence of different viral infections in women with spontaneous abortion and in normal pregnant women during the first trimester. Methods: Between January 2003 and December 2004, seventy-one pregnant women attending the Gynaecological and Obstetric Department because of miscarriage (group 1), and eighty normal pregnant women (group 2) were involved in this study. Clinical and serological data were evaluated. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, parity, number of deliveries, and number of previous spontaneous abortions. The prevalence of IgG seropositivity against the investigated virus was comparable in the two groups. Regardless of the IgM seropositivity a significant difference between the two groups was found only for rubella (p=0.046), which was higher in the miscarriage group. Significant differences between IgG seropositivity of rubella and CMV (p=0.003), rubella and B19 (p=0.001), CMV and B19 (p=0.01), CMV and VZV (p=0.024), VZV and B19 (p=0.001) were observed. Conclusions: The IgG seroprevalence for the considered viral infections are in agreement with those of other studies in Europe. About 10% of the women of our study is susceptible to rubella and measles infections and about 30% and 50-60% to CMV and parvovirus B19 infections, respectively. The unexpected feature of this study was the significantly higher incidence of IgM seropositivity for rubella in the miscarriage group (p=0.046). Further investigations in this field are needed to evaluate the effectiveness and cost of screening of viral infections during pregnancy.