Table 2.
Prevalence of pathogens, pathogen-specific antigens and antibodies in the study population
| Pathogen | N | Serological assays | Direct proof | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IgM | IgG | IgA | |||
| Current pregnancy-relevant infections | |||||
| HBV a (HBsAg pos) | 174 | - | - | - | 16·7%e |
| Plasmodium spp.b | 180 | - | - | - | + 6·1% ++ 1·7% +++ 2·8% |
| GBS c | 180 | - | - | - | 10·6% |
| HCV | 174 | N/A | 1·1% | N/A | - |
| HIV | 173 | 0·6%* | 0·6%* | 0·6%* | - |
| C. trachomatis d | 177 | - | - | - | 1·7% |
| HSV-1/−2 | 174 | 11·5% | 100% | N/A | 1·1%d |
| High susceptibility for potentially acquiring primary infection | |||||
| VZV | 169 | n.d. | 56·8% | 2.4% | - |
| T. gondii | 168 | 1·8%** | 73·2% | n.d. | - |
| Parvovirus B19 | 170 | 4·7% | 80·0% | N/A | - |
| Rubella virus | 172 | 4·7% | 84·3% | N/A | - |
| Past pregnancy-relevant infections | |||||
| CMV | 172 | 0% | 100% | N/A | - |
| T. pallidum | 180 | 0%+ | 2·8 / 5·0%++ | N/A | - |
| Absence of pregnancy-relevant infections | |||||
| N. gonorrhoeaec | 180 | - | - | - | 0 |
| Listeria spp.c | 180 | - | - | - | 0 |
Direct pathogen proof was carried out by antigen testa, microscopy and countingb, cultivationc, or PCRd . eFive out of 23 tested HBsAg positive women (21.7%) were also HBeAg positive. -: not applicable. N/A: not available, n.d.: not done. *the assay used does not discriminate between antibody and antigen, **IgM-positive samples with high IgG avidity, +VDRL, ++FTA-ABS/TPPA