The Seroepidemiology of Parvovirus B19 Infection in Taiwan
Resource
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES v.12 SUPPL. 1 pp.E85-E85
Journal
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Pages
e85
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Su, W.J.
Cheng, W.Y.
Liu, D.P.
Ni, Y.H.
Hsu, L.C.
Lu, C.Y.
Abstract
Background: This study is aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of anti-parvovirus B19 IgG in communities, pregnant women, and health care workers (HCWs) in Taiwan, and to find out the possible risk factors associated with parvovirus B 19 infections in HCWs. Methods: Totally 763 serum samples were tested for anti-parvovirus B19 IgG by enzyme immunoassay. Among them, 467 represented the general population, aged 1–69 years of age, female to male ratio of 1.0, collected from the community during the years of 2006–2007 and 2004; other 241 were from pregnant women, aged 15–51 years, randomly sampled in a national-wide screening program of rubella in pregnancy in 2000; the other 55 were from the HCWs, aged 25–57 years, who received and completed the questionnaires at the time of blood sampling. Results: The overall seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 infection in the community and among pregnant women and HCWs were 34.0%, 27.8%, and 23.6% respectively. In the community group, the seroprevalence increased with age (p < 0.0001). The seropositivity remained stable (20-30%) in subjects aged 20 to 40 years in the community group. Then, it rose up to 60% after the middle age (46 years and beyond). No difference was observed between the seropositivities of pregnant women and the community women with the same age (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 0.9–2.5). Among HCWs, those with longer clinical working experience were associated with higher seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 infection (p = 0.04). However, the association was not significant after adjusted with age (p = 0.07). Conclusions: The seroprevalence of Parvovirus B19 infection in Taiwan increased with age, especially for people over 45 years but was still lower than those in western countries. For women with childbearing ages, the seropositivity was low and not different from the women with matched age in the community. HCWs did not have a higher seroprevalence of Parvovirus B19.
Type
journal article