Abstract

Seroprevalence of TORCH Infections in Pregnant Women with Bad Obstetric History

Introduction: Primary infection with TORCH complex (Toxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalo virus and Herpes Simplex Virus I and II) in pregnant women can lead to adverse outcome like low birth weight to congenital anomalies, sensory neural deafness, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and sometimes to fatal outcomes like abortion and still birth which are initially unapparent or asymptomatic and thus difficult to diagnosed on clinical ground.

Aim: To screen pregnant women with bad obstretic history for TORCH infection to minimize chances of congenital malformation in neonates.

Material and methods: Over a period of one year total 130 serum samples were collected from antenatal women having bad obstetric history attending to tertiary health centre. Samples were screened for IgG antibodies against Toxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalo Virus (CMV) by Immuno Comb (EIA) and ELISA Test.

Results: It was found that Toxoplasma is most predominant infection being positive in 20 (15.4%) of the cases followed by 15 (11.5%) for Cytomegalovirus, 8 (6.2%) for Rubella and 7 (5.4%) for Herpes simplex Virus I and II.

Conclusion: This study showed that most of the infections have occurred during young age before or during first pregnancy. Hence all antenatal cases with bad obstetric history should be routinely screened for TORCH as early diagnosis and appropriate intervention will help in proper management of the cases.

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