ArticleBMC women's health2010
The prevalence, incidence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus type 2 infection among pregnant Zimbabwean women followed up nine months after childbirth.
Article in BMC women's health, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global Seroprevalence (HSV-2 IgG), Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Genital Herpes Infection During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of pregnancy · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence of Curable Sexually Transmitted Infections in Pregnant Women in Low- and Middle-Income Countries From 2010 to 2015: A Systematic Review.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2016Pooled it
- Concurrent partnerships and HIV: an inconvenient truth.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2011Pooled it
- Disclosure of HSV-2 serological test results in the context of an adolescent HIV prevention trial in Kenya.Sexually transmitted infections · 2015Trial
- Review
- Treponema pallidum infection predicts sexually transmitted viral infections (hepatitis B virus, herpes simplex virus-2, and human immunodeficiency virus) among pregnant women from rural areas of Mwanza region, Tanzania.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2019Article
- Age-disparate partnerships and HSV-2 among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa: implications for HIV infection risk.Sexually transmitted infections · 2019Article
- SERO-prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 among women attending routine Cervicare clinics in Ghana.BMC infectious diseases · 2018Article
- Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus type-2 (HSV-2) among pregnant women who participated in a national HIV surveillance activity in Haiti.BMC infectious diseases · 2017Article
- Seroprevalence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus-2 among pregnant women attending antenatal care at health facilities in Wolaita zone, Ethiopia.Virology journal · 2016Article
- Incidence of herpes simplex virus type 2 infections in Africa: a systematic review.Open forum infectious diseases · 2014Review
- Use of HIV and HSV-2 biomarkers in sub-saharan adolescent prevention research: a comparison of two approaches.The journal of primary prevention · 2014Article
- Frequent genital HSV-2 shedding among women during labor in Soweto, South Africa.Infectious diseases in obstetrics and gynecology · 2014Article
- Article
- Herpes simplex virus 2 infection rate and necessity of screening during pregnancy: a clinical and seroepidemiologic study.Yonsei medical journal · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHerpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is the leading cause of genital ulcer disease worldwide. The virus can be transmitted to neonates and there are scarce data regarding incidence of HSV-2 among women in pregnancy and after childbirth. The aim of this study is to measure the incidence and risk factors for HSV-2 infection in women followed for 9 months after childbirth.
methodsPregnant women were consecutively enrolled late in pregnancy and followed at six weeks, four and nine months after childbirth. Stored samples were tested for HSV-2 at baseline and again at nine months after childbirth and HSV-2 seropositive samples at nine months after childbirth (seroconverters) were tested retrospectively to identify the seroconversion point.
resultsOne hundred and seventy-three (50.9%) of the 340 consecutively enrolled pregnant women were HSV-2 seronegative at baseline. HSV-2 incidence rate during the 10 months follow up was 9.7 (95% CI 5.4-14.4)/100 and 18.8 (95% CI 13.9-26.1)/100 person years at risk (PYAR) at four months and nine months after childbirth respectively. Analysis restricted to women reporting sexual activity yielded higher incidence rates. The prevalence of HSV-2 amongst the HIV-1 seropositive was 89.3%. Risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositivity were having other sexual partners in past 12 months (Prevalence Risk Ratio (PRR) 1.8 (95% CI 1.4-2.4) and presence of Trichomonas vaginalis (PRR 1.7 95% CI 1.4-2.1). Polygamy (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) 4.4, 95% CI 1.9-10.6) and young age at sexual debut (IRR 3.6, 95% CI 1.6-8.3) were associated with primary HSV-2 infection during the 10 months follow up.
conclusionsIncidence of HSV-2 after childbirth is high and the period between late pregnancy and six weeks after childbirth needs to be targeted for prevention of primary HSV-2 infection to avert possible neonatal infections.
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