Prevalence of serum antibodies to TORCH among women before pregnancy or in the early period of pregnancy in Beijing

Background: The primary infection of Toxoplasma gondii (TOX), rubella virus (RV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), or herpes simplex virus (HSV), abbreviated as TORCH, remains a major problem in the pregnant women in China today. Methods: We analyzed the performance of a novel chemiluminesent immunoassay (CLIA) for anti-TORCH IgM and IgG detection then analyzed the prevalence of TORCH infection among 4692 women at childbearing age in Beijing; China. Results: The functional sensitivity of detecting anti-TOX IgM. anti-RV IgM, anti-CMV IgM and anti-HSV (types I and 2) IgM were 1.4, 3.2. 1.0 AU/ml and 0.5 index, respectively. The within-assay and the total CVs were both <10%, and recoveries of these assays ranged from 90-110%. High concentration of hemoglobin, lipids and bilirubin in sample did not affect the results. The infective rate of TORCH was 17.2%, with the highest positive rate of anti-HSV IgM. Within anti-TORCH IgG, anti-CMV IgG had the highest infective rate, 92.5%. Conclusions: The infective rate of TORCH was fairly high among women before pregnancy or in the early period of pregnancy in Beijing. Entirely new approaches to prevention and treatment of congenital TORCH infection are necessary. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.