Seroprevalence of TORCH Infections in High-Risk Pregnant Women in Anbar Governorate

Abstract

The term TORCH is used to designate the most common perinatal infections, Congenital abnormalities cause serious fetal consequences, where: (T) refers to toxoplasmosis, (O) means others and includes syphilis, varicella-zoster, parvovirus B19, zika virus (ZIKV), and malaria among others, (R) refers to rubella, (C) relates to cytomegalovirus infection, and (H) to herpes simplex virus infections. The terms miscarriage and abortion are used interchangeably. The term abortion refers to a termination of a pregnancy either natural or induced, the risk of early pregnancy loss decreases with increasing gestational age and is relatively low after 15-weeks’ gestation in a genetically normal fetus. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of TORCH infections in women having history of pregnancy loss (PL) and women with high delivery risk factors (HDRF) in Al-Anbar / Iraq and to evaluate the levels of some immunological parameters like IL-10 and INF-gamma in those women. A prospective study conducted during period from Novembers 2020 to February 2021. The study included (170) women with (HRP) and clinically normal with previous normal pregnancy and full-term deliveries. Serological evolution for TORCH infections was carried out by IgG and IgM by ELISA test. The results showed that the percentage of IgM and IgG antibodies as follow, Seropositivity rate of toxoplasma (19%) of IgM and (30) of IgG, Rubella virus (30%) of IgM and (9%) of IgG, Cytomegalo virus (22%) of IgM and (54) of IgG, Herpes simplex II (2%) of IgM and (13%) of IgG. The highest rate of abortion recorded with the Cytomegalo virus. As immunological parameters interleukin-10 recorded (23.5%) while IFN-γ (35.3%) of all HRP womens. Antiphospholipid (12%) of IgM and (19) of IgG, Anticardiolipin (11%) of IgM and (34%) of IgG. Lupus anticoagulant (0%).