title: Early high CMV seroprevalence in pregnant women from a population with a high rate of congenital infection.
abstract: Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection rates increase with maternal seroprevalence due to transmission from maternal non-primary infection. CMV seroprevalence estimates of pregnant women are needed for planning strategies against congenital CMV transmission. We aimed to determine the age-specific prevalence of serum antibodies for CMV in a representative age-stratified sample of unselected pregnant women from a Brazilian population. A total of 985 pregnant women, aged 12–46 years (median 24 years), were enrolled. Overall CMV seroprevalence was 97% (95% confidence interval 95.8–98.0), with age-specific (years) prevalence as follows: 12–19 (96.3%), 20–24 (97.7%), 25–29 (97.1%), and 30–46 (96.7%). CMV seroprevalence is almost universal (97%) and is found at similar levels in pregnant women of ages ranging from 12 to 46 years. Because high CMV seroprevalence is found even in women of a younger age in this population, this finding suggests that the majority of primary CMV infections occur early, in infancy or childhood. As a consequence, vaccines currently under development to prevent primary infection may not be a solution for the prevention of congenital CMV infection in this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Brazil. yulie@fmrp.usp.br
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: R A C
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Castellucci
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Aragon
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mussi-Pinhata
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G