Occurrence of cytomegalovirus and human immunodeficiency virus among antenatal women in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital

The potential effects of cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on maternal and neonatal health make them serious public health concerns, especially for pregnant women. This study aims to determine the occurrence of CMV and HIV among antenatal women and to assess the relationship between CMV-HIV co-infection. A cross-sectional study design was employed, involving 100 participants, and information collated through questionnaires and serological tests using Abbot HIV – 1\2 rapid test kit and TORCH IgG\IgM Combo rapid test Cassette for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Cytomegalovirus for detection of infection respectively. The study revealed overall prevalence of CMV infection as 6% while no HIV infection was noted in the study population. Hence, there was no co-prevalence of HIV and CMV infection in the study population. Also, CMV infection was significantly not distributed in the study population (p = 0.0129). While 100% of participants were aware of HIV transmission, only 15% had knowledge of CMV. From the study, pregnant women had a 6% occurrence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) and 0% HIV infections, co-infection was not seen. 15% of participants knew about CMV transmission, and the distribution of CMV infection was statistically insignificant. The absence of HIV-positive cases in this study may be due to the small sample size or the criteria for selection of participants, which may not fully represent the general population. Increased awareness campaigns, regular CMV screening, preventive measures, larger research to understand the occurrence of CMV and improved antenatal services to guarantee early detection and therapy.