Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus among Infants in Khartoum State

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to determine the seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus among infants in Khartoum State. One hundred and three (103) blood specimens were collected from infants, who were suspected to have Herpes infection during the period from June to September, 2013. The ages of the enrolled infants were ranged from 1 day to two year. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect specific anti-IgM and anti-IgG antibodies against Herpes Simplex Virus in all of the recruited infants. The number of males was 52 (50.5%) and 51 (49.5%) for females. The results revealed that two of 103 (2\103) of neonates examined were positive for IgM antibodies (1.9%) while (101\103) samples were negative (98.1%). ELISA was shown to be fairly more sensitive (P<0.05) in detecting anti- herpes antibodies. Nineteen neonates were examined and they were negative for IgM and IgG antibodies (18.4%), the number of IgG negative was 21 (20.4%), and the IgG positive was 82 (79.6%). The percentage of positive IgG antibodies were found to be more in group one (6 month and below) of ages (76.7%) and the negative was (18.4%), while in group two (6 month up to one year) the positive IgG antibodies was (1.0%), and negative was (1.0%) and group three (one year to two years) the positive IgG was (1.0%) and there is no negative results. The only positive IgM was found in group one (1.9%).