Viruses (Apr 2023)

Transient Decrease in Incidence Rate of Maternal Primary Cytomegalovirus Infection during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan

  • Kuniaki Toriyabe,
  • Asa Kitamura,
  • Miki Hagimoto-Akasaka,
  • Makoto Ikejiri,
  • Shigeru Suga,
  • Eiji Kondo,
  • Masamichi Kihira,
  • Fumihiro Morikawa,
  • Tomoaki Ikeda

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v15051096
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 5
p. 1096

Abstract

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This study evaluated the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the occurrence of maternal primary cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in Japan. We performed a nested case-control study using data from maternal CMV antibody screening under the Cytomegalovirus in Mother and infant-engaged Virus serology (CMieV) program in Mie, Japan. Pregnant women with negative IgG antibodies at ≤20 weeks of gestation who were retested at ≥28 weeks were enrolled. The study period was divided into 2015–2019 as the pre-pandemic and 2020–2022 as the pandemic period, and the study site included 26 institutions conducting the CMieV program. The incidence rate of maternal IgG seroconversion was compared between the pre-pandemic (7008 women enrolled) and pandemic (2020, 1283 women enrolled; 2021, 1100 women; and 2022, 398 women) periods. Sixty-one women in the pre-pandemic period and five, four, and five women during 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively, showed IgG seroconversion. The incidence rates in 2020 and 2021 were lower (p < 0.05) than that in the pre-pandemic period. Our data suggest a transient decrease in the incidence of maternal primary CMV infection in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could be due to prevention and hygiene measures taken at the population level.

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