Prevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 IgM among Women of Reproductive Age in Zaria, and Demonstration of its Cytopathogenicity in Whole Egg

Abstract

Egg culture has long been considered the diagnostic gold standard for Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 (HSV- 2) and would serve as complementary to Immunoglobulin M determination to establish acute infection in a given population. The study determined the prevalence of HSV-2 IgM and the cytopathology of the virus isolated from women of reproductive age in Zaria. The study recruited 450 consenting women attending selected hospitals from which blood and cervical swab samples were obtained. Sera were analysed for HSV-2 IgM while suspension from swabs were inoculated into 12 days old embryonated chicken eggs. A total of 330 (73.3%) women screened tested positive for HSV-2 IgM and 79 (23.94) out of 330 IgM positive samples produced cytopathic effect. The highest prevalence of 88.7% (133/150) was recorded among women recruited from St. Lukes Anglican hospital, while those attending Gambo Sawaba General Hospital-Kofan Gaya, had the lowest prevalence of 50%. Furthermore, women in age group of 16-20 years, were most infected with a prevalence of 83.5% while those aged 45years and above had the lowest prevalence of 50%. Women who had more than one sexual partner, those that did not use protection during sex and women that were pregnant had higher prevalence of 88.5%, 74.9% and 77.6% respectively and were more at risk, as compared with those with single partner (69.2%), who used protection (61.5%) and that were not pregnant (71.3%). About 22.4% (101) of the women reported to have heard about HSV-2 while 349 (77.6%) were not aware of the virus prior to this study. The symptoms found to be significantly associated with the virus were blisters/ulcers on genital area (p=0.000; OR=3.000) and dysuria (p=0.006; OR=0.504). Fever (OR=1.659), vaginal discharge (OR=1.867) and itching/burning sensation on genital area (OR=1.431) were other symptoms associated with the virus. The study demonstrated a high prevalence of HSV-2 among the women, indicating that, genital herpes is highly endemic in the study area. In addition, a substantial number of the women lacked knowledge of genital herpes and were actively harbouring the virus.