A Study of Torch Screening in Women with Bad Obstetric History

ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 04 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Maternal infections have been considered as one of the significant factors in the causation of bad obstetric history. Infections caused by Toxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes simplex virus are benign. However, they may lead to serious complications, especially when they are acquired during the first trimester of pregnancy. These are associated with inadvertent outcomes like multiple abortions, intra-uterine fetal death, stillbirths and congenital malformations. Data regarding the detection of these infections is scanty as the risk requirement of expensive commercial diagnostic kitToxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes simplex IgM antibodies. This study was undertaken to assess the utility in pregnant women with bad obstetric history. The present study was undertaken as the case-control study at Princess Esra Hospital, Hyderabad between January 2015 and December 2017. A total of 50 pregnant women of age range in their first trimester attending Ante Nata Clinic were included along with 35 age matched control pregnant women with no bad obstetric history. After obtaining the institutional ethics committee approval serum samples were obtained aseptically from the enrolled cases and were tested for the identification of specific IgM antibodies for Toxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes using sandwich and capture ELIZA (Calbiotech lab USA). The assay was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions and the results were calculated in MS excel and test of proportion and Pearson’s Chi square test. 23 women for IgM antibodies Toxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes either alone or in combination were identified in the group I. In the control group (Group II), IgM antibodies were detected in 11 cases. When compared with the control group, Rubella and Toxoplasma infection were found to have statistically significant difference with the pvalue of 0.016 and 0.026 respectively. However, there was no statistically significant difference found between the two study groups. Detection of IgM antibodies performed reflects recent infection and there is high prevalence of infection caused by TORCH agents in women with bad obstetric history compared to healthy controls. Hence, all the anti-natal cases with bad obstetric history should be routinely screened as IgM antibodies detection is a reliable indicator of maternal infections and can be used as a screening test. K e y w o r d s TORCH, Screening, Pregnancy, Specific