Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus Infections among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic in Benin, Nigeria

Aims: In many countries, genital herpes, which is predominantly caused by HSV-2 in Nigeria, has become a public health problem of such increasing magnitude that national genital herpes control programmes have been instituted.. Advocacy for formulation of such a programme and the types of interventions to be included in the programme in Nigeria will require data on the prevalence of the disease and the associated factors. Moreover, most of the candidate vaccines against HSV-2 tend to fail when administered to HSV-1 infected persons. The utility of such vaccines in Nigeria will depend on the current seroprevalence of HSV-1 infections.
The aim of this study is to assess the seroprevalence of HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH); and to verify the association between HSV-2 infection and HIV-status, age, parity, level of education and positive history of painful genital ulcers.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and duration of the study: 264 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in UBTH were prospectively and consecutively included in the study which took place between December, 2011 and August, 2012.
Methodology: The patients were tested for HSV-1 IgG and IgM; and for HSV-2 IgG and IgM, using gG type-specific ELISA technique. Their HIV statuses were also determined. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16.
Results: HSV-2 antibodies were present in 44.3% while HSV-1 antibodies were present 96.6% of the participants. Age, HIV-status and marital status were found to be significantly associated with occurrence of HSV-2 antibodies; while parity, level of education and history of painful genital ulcers had no significant association.
Conclusion: Seroprevalence of HSV-1 infection was 96.6% while that of HSV-2 infection was 44.3%. Factors that were significantly associated with occurrence of HSV-2 infection included age, marital status and HIV status.