Comparative characteristic of clinical and laboratory indicators of congenital herpes virus infection in children and the course of mother’s pregnancy

The work summarizes the results of the investigations made by the researchers of Scientific Research Institute of Children’s Infections in Saint Petersburg. There are presented comparative characteristics of congenital Herpes virus infection accompanied by a course of the mother’s pregnancy. Etiologic interpretation of congenital Herpes virus infection was based on the identification of specific antibodies of M and G class immunoglobulins against CMV, HSV and EBV by fluorescence immunoassay, virus DNA by PCR in different biological environment (blood, sputum, urine). The results of the tests were filled into the created individual electronic block-cards and processed further by the methods of parametric and nonparametric statistics in the licensed version of “Windows Vista Professional” operational environment “Statistica 7.0” program (correlated, regressive, cluster, discriminant tests) with the confidence level p < 0,05. There are described two our clinical observations of those children who have survived after generalized Herpes virus infection. There are framed the risks of congenital infection revealing depending on the pregnancy course in the form of the algorithm. There are also given the practical recommendations on the interpretation of the laboratory data found. The clinical presentation of congenital Herpes infections (HSV, CMV and EBV) is extremely polymorphic and doesn’t allow definite suspecting of the disease etiology. In the case of congenital infection suspicion the method of choice is the indication of causative genome in the biological samples available. The determination of specific IgM in the first-year children is less informative in these cases. The system of laboratory follow up of the pregnancy to assess the risk of congenital infection needs further improvement (it needs monitoring, current recommendations on interpretation).

congenital infections, Herpes virus infections, pregnant women, diagnostics, prevention