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:10.3390/v15051096

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

Viruses. 2023 Apr 29;15(5):1096. doi: 10.3390/v15051096.

Authors

Kuniaki Toriyabe¹, Asa Kitamura^{1

2}, Miki Hagimoto-Akasaka¹, Makoto Ikejiri³, Shigeru Suga⁴, Eiji Kondo¹, Masamichi Kihira⁵, Fumihiro Morikawa⁵, Tomoaki Ikeda¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu 514-8507, Japan.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Hospital Organization Mie Chuo Medical Center, Tsu 514-1101, Japan.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Mie University Hospital, Tsu 514-8507, Japan.
⁴ Institute for Clinical Research, National Hospital Organization Mie National Hospital, Tsu 514-0125, Japan.
⁵ Mie Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Tsu 514-0003, Japan.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: CMV screening; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; congenital cytomegalovirus infection; immunoglobulin G; pandemic; pregnancy; primary cytomegalovirus infection; seroconversion.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Case-Control Studies
Cytomegalovirus
Cytomegalovirus Infections* / diagnosis
Cytomegalovirus Infections* / epidemiology
Cytomegalovirus Infections* / prevention & control
Female
Humans
Immunoglobulin G
Incidence
Japan / epidemiology
Pandemics
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious* / diagnosis
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious* / epidemiology
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious* / prevention & control

Substances

Immunoglobulin G
Antibodies, Viral

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Clinical Research Program for Child Health and Development, awarded by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), grant number 22gk0110061s0501, and JSPS KAKENHI, grant number 22K15918.