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. 2017 Aug 18;17(1):577.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-017-2674-4.

Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus type-2 (HSV-2) among pregnant women who participated in a national HIV surveillance activity in Haiti

Jean Wysler Domercant  1 , Frantz Jean Louis  1 , Erin Hulland  2 , Mark Griswold  3 , Jocelyne Andre-Alboth  4 , Tun Ye  5 , Barbara J Marston  5
Affiliations

Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus type-2 (HSV-2) among pregnant women who participated in a national HIV surveillance activity in Haiti

Jean Wysler Domercant et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), one the most common causes of genital ulcers, appears to increase both the risk of HIV acquisition and HIV transmission. HSV-2/HIV co-infection among pregnant women may increase the risk of perinatal transmission of HIV. This study describes rates of HSV-2 among pregnant women in Haiti and HSV-2 test performance in this population.

Methods: Unlinked residual serum specimens from the 2012 National HIV and Syphilis Sentinel Surveillance Survey among pregnant women in Haiti were tested using two commercial kits (Focus HerpeSelect, Kalon) for HSV-2 antibodies. We evaluated rates of HSV-2 seropositivity and HSV-2/HIV co-infection, associations between HSV-2 and demographic characteristics using multivariable Cox proportional hazards modeling, and HSV-2 test performance in this population.

Results: Serum samples from 1000 pregnant women (all 164 HIV positive and 836 random HIV negative) were selected. The overall weighted prevalence of HSV-2 was 31.4% (95% CI: 27.7-35.4) and the prevalence of HIV-positivity among HSV-2 positive pregnant women was five times higher than the prevalence among HSV-2 negative women (4.8% [95% CI: 3.9-6.0] vs. 0.9% [95% CI: 0.6-1.3], respectively). Factors significantly associated with HSV-2 positivity were HIV-positivity (PR: 2.27 [95% CI: 1.94-2.65]) and older age (PRs: 1.41 [95% CI: 1.05-1.91] for 20-24 years, 1.71 [95% CI:1.13-2.60] for 30-34 years, and 1.55 [95% CI: 1.10-2.19] for 35 years or greater]), while rural residence was negatively associated with HSV-2 positivity (PR 0.83 [95% CI: 0.69-1.00]), after controlling for other covariables. For this study a conservative Focus index cutoff of 3.5 was used, but among samples with a Focus index value ≥2.5, 98.4% had positive Kalon tests.

Conclusion: The prevalence of HSV-2 is relatively high among pregnant women in Haiti. Public health interventions to increase access to HSV-2 screening in antenatal services are warranted.

Keywords: HIV women; HSV-2; Pregnant women; Prevalence; Screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This activity was approved by the National Bioethics Committee in Haiti and as a non-research evaluation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Consent for publication

Not applicable, there is no personally identifiable individual level data.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests; no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Multivariable cox-proportional hazards modeling results
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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