Seroprevalence of HIV, HBV and Syphilis in Pregnant Women

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and syphilis in pregnancy are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes including spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, still birth, low birth weight, congenital infections etc. The present study was undertaken to know the seroprevalence of HIV, HBV and syphilis in and around Davangere. The study was conducted in Davangere from May 2008 to April 2009. The study included 300 blood samples from antenatal women attending outpatient and inpatient department of various hospitals in Davangere. All the test sera were tested for anti-HIV IgG antibodies by a DOT immunoassay, if reactive,was confirmed by TRIDOT and ELISA test. They were also tested for HBV by HBsAg ELISA and syphilis by Venereal disease research laboratory(VDRL) test, if reactive, was confirmed by Treponema pallidum hemagglutination (TPHA) test. Out of 300 antenatal cases, three were positive for HIV i.e. prevalence of 1%, five were positive for HBsAg i.e. prevalence of 1.7%, one was positive for anti-treponemal antibodies i.e. prevalence of syphilis was 0.3%. Prevalence of HIV, HBV are high from this study, so it is important to screen all the antenatal mothers for both, so as to provide proper antenatal, intranatal and post natal care to seropositive women and prevent mother to child transmission. Eventhough the seroprevalence of syphilis is low from the present study, it is advisable to screen for syphilis also, as the disease is treatable and thus helps to eliminate the adverse effect of untreated syphilis both in mother and foetus.