Abstract
Background: Viral hepatitis in pregnant women can be caused by multiple types of hepatitis viruses and can cause a wide range of symptoms and complications, ranging from asymptomatic infection to maternal and fetal deaths. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the sero-prevalence and the associated factors of viral hepatitis B (HBV), viral hepatitis C (HCV) and viral hepatitis E (HEV) among the Egyptian pregnant females. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the period from January to July 2017 in two selected antenatal clinics; El-shat by maternity university hospital at Alexandria city and El-Behera health insurance antenatal clinic at Damanhur city on 261 apparently healthy gravid women. Eligible women were evaluated by a questionnaire about socio-demographic data and viral serological tests were done at El-shat by maternity University Hospital Laboratory. Results: The overall HBs-Ag sero-prevalence in the pregnant women included in this study was 7 cases (2.7%) and HCV-RNA PCR was 4 cases (1.5%). Of the total study participants, none of them (0%) were anti-HEV IgM positive and 48 cases (18.4%) were anti-HEV IgG positive. According to our results, neither age of the woman, place of residence, past family history of hepatitis virus infection nor having a pet animal had any strong association to be considered as an associated factor for acquiring HEV infection. Conclusion: Although it seems that there are many improvements in the prevalence of different hepatitis viruses in the country, hepatitis viral infections are still high enough to continue their preventive programs and health education, to protect the mothers and their fetuses from the hazardous effects of these serious infections.
Highlights
Viral hepatitis in pregnant women can be caused by multiple types of hepatitis viruses and can cause a wide range of symptoms and complications, ranging from asymptomatic infection to maternal and fetal deaths
The overall HBs-Ag sero-prevalence in the pregnant women included in this study was 7 cases (2.7%) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA PCR was 4 cases (1.5%)
Neither age of the woman, place of residence, past family history of hepatitis virus infection nor having a pet animal had any strong association to be considered as an associated factor for acquiring hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection
Summary
Many studies discussed the impact of viral hepatitis in pregnant women, as it can be caused by multiple types of hepatitis viruses and can cause a wide range of symptoms and complications, ranging from nothing up to maternal deaths [1].Noteworthy, these different outcomes can be specified to certain geographical areas, for example, there were no increased mortalities related to hepatitis E infection among Egyptian and south Indian women [1] [2] while there were reports of higher mortalities from north India [3], despite that all these places are endemic for the virus [4].Each type of hepatitis viruses represents a different entity and should be discussed separately, hepatitis A virus infection does not differ a lot between pregnant and non-pregnant women as it is mainly a feco-oral [1].Hepatitis B, when acquired near term, can be transmitted vertically in 60% of cases and causes chronic hepatitis in 90% of infected newborns, which later on will lead to portal hypertension, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in the child [5]. Many studies discussed the impact of viral hepatitis in pregnant women, as it can be caused by multiple types of hepatitis viruses and can cause a wide range of symptoms and complications, ranging from nothing up to maternal deaths [1]. These different outcomes can be specified to certain geographical areas, for example, there were no increased mortalities related to hepatitis E infection among Egyptian and south Indian women [1] [2] while there were reports of higher mortalities from north India [3], despite that all these places are endemic for the virus [4]. Conclusion: it seems that there are many improvements in the prevalence of different hepatitis viruses in the country, hepatitis viral infections are still high enough to continue their preventive programs and health education, to protect the mothers and their fetuses from the hazardous effects of these serious infections
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