Prevalence of pregnancy-relevant infections in a rural setting of Ghana

Table 2 Prevalence of pathogens, pathogen-specific antigens and antibodies in the study population

Pathogen	N	Serological assays			Direct proof
Pathogen	N	IgM	IgG	IgA	Direct proof
Current pregnancy-relevant infections
HBV ^a (HBsAg pos)	174	-	-	-	16·7%^e
Plasmodium spp.^b	180	-	-	-	+ 6·1% ++ 1·7% +++ 2·8%
GBS ^c	180	-	-	-	10·6%
HCV	174	N/A	1·1%	N/A	-
HIV	173	0·6%*	0·6%*	0·6%*	-
C. trachomatis ^d	177	-	-	-	1·7%
HSV-1/−2	174	11·5%	100%	N/A	1·1%^d
High susceptibility for potentially acquiring primary infection
VZV	169	n.d.	56·8%	2.4%	-
T. gondii	168	1·8%**	73·2%	n.d.	-
Parvovirus B19	170	4·7%	80·0%	N/A	-
Rubella virus	172	4·7%	84·3%	N/A	-
Past pregnancy-relevant infections
CMV	172	0%	100%	N/A	-
T. pallidum	180	0%⁺	2·8 / 5·0%⁺⁺	N/A	-
Absence of pregnancy-relevant infections
N. gonorrhoeae^c	180	-	-	-	0
Listeria spp.^c	180	-	-	-	0

Direct pathogen proof was carried out by antigen test^a, microscopy and counting^b, cultivation^c, or PCR^d . ^eFive out of 23 tested HBsAg positive women (21.7%) were also HBeAg positive. -: not applicable. N/A: not available, n.d.: not done. *the assay used does not discriminate between antibody and antigen, **IgM-positive samples with high IgG avidity, ⁺VDRL, ⁺⁺FTA-ABS/TPPA

ISSN: 1471-2393