Prevalence and risk factors for herpes simplex virus type 2 infection among pregnant women in Israel.
BACKGROUND
Although usually a nuisance to the adult patient, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection can have devastating consequences on the infected newborn. It is thus important to document the prevalence and risk factors of this infection among pregnant women in a defined population. The availability of the new type-specific assays that provide accurate serologic results prompted us to study the seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection among pregnant women in Israel.


METHODS
In a cross-sectional descriptive study, 512 pregnant women were tested. The study population included Israeli-born Jewish and Arab women, and new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. A competition-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect type-specific HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors for HSV-2 seropositivity.


RESULTS
The prevalence of HSV-2 infection was 13.3% (95% confidence interval, 10.5-16.5%) and that of HSV-1 was 94.9%. History of genital or labial herpes was reported by 1.3% and 26.8% of the participants, respectively. The HSV-2 infection rate was 3-fold higher among immigrants from the former Soviet Union (27.5%) than among Israeli-born Jewish and Arab women (9%). The only risk factor independently associated with HSV-2 seropositivity was multiple lifetime sexual partners.


CONCLUSIONS
We have documented a relatively low seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection in a demographically mixed group of pregnant women in Israel. The role of high-risk sexual behavior in the spread of the infection has been reconfirmed.
Dan
Michael
M
Infectious Diseases Unit, the E. Wolfson Hospital, Holon, Israel. midan@post.tau.ac.il
Sadan
Oscar
O
Glezerman
Marek
M
Raveh
David
D
Samra
Zmira
Z
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000914:Antibodies, Viral