Seroconversion for Cytomegalovirus Infection During Pregnancy and Fetal Infection in a Highly Seropositive Population: The BraCHS Study

摘要

We determined the risk of seroconversion in seronegative pregnant women living in a high seroprevalence population. Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-immunoglobulin G reactivity was determined at the 1st trimester in all women and sequentially for seronegative women. A total of 1915 of 1952 (98.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 97.4%–98.7%) women were seropositive, and 36 (1.8%; 95% CI, 1.3%–2.6%) were seronegative. Five of the 36-seronegative women seroconverted for a cumulative rate of 13.9% (95% CI, 4.8%–30.6%). Congenital CMV infection was diagnosed in 1 of 36 infants (2.8%; 95% CI, 0.5%–63.9%) born to seronegative women compared with 8 of 1685 (0.5%; 95% CI, 0.2%–1.0%) infants born to seropositive mothers. Even with a high risk of primary infection in seronegative women, most CMV-infected infants were born to women with pre-existing seroimmunity.