Serological study of herpes virus infection in female patients with bad obstetric history

Primary Herpes Simplex Virus-2 (HSV-2) infection has been inconclusively linked with abortions. This study is aimed to evaluate the role of HSV-2 infection in patients with bad obstetric history which implies previous unfavourable fetal outcome in terms of two or more consecutive spontaneous abortions, history of intrauterine fetal death, intrauterine growth retardation, still births, early neonatal death and/or congenital anomalies. A retrospective study was conducted on 450 randomly selected patients with bad obstetric history. ELISA was performed to detect anti HSV-2 IgM antibodies. Detailed history and clinical examination was done. Of the 450 cases screened for anti HSV-2 IgM antibodies, 76 (16.8%) tested positive. Of these 76 HSV positive patients, 68 (89.4%) had history of abortion, 5 (6.5%) had disseminated herpes infection, 2 (2.6%) had neonatal cholestasis and 1 (1.3%) had eye complaints. Although some studies show inconclusive evidence of HSV-2 infection with abortion, our study showed significant correlation between HSV infection and abortion. HSV-2 being a preventable and treatable sexually transmitted disease should be actively looked for in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with bad obstetric history. This is especially important considering the wide prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in India.