Baylis SA, Shah N, Minor PD. haemoglobinopathies, as well as to chronic anaemia in immunocompromised patients [6, 7]. B19V is usually spread through respiratory droplets [8], but it can also be transmitted via contaminated blood products [9]. Importantly, B19V can also be transmitted vertically from mother to fetus where it can cause severe fetal anaemia, miscarriage, fetal death or hydrops fetalis [10C14]. The risk of vertical transmission of B19V is up to about one third of acutely infected pregnant women [15] and the excess fetal death rate after maternal infection during the first 20 weeks of gestation was estimated to be 56% [16]. Notably, the probability of fetal death is highest after B19V infection in early gestation [16C19]. The incidence of fetal anemia Zatebradine hydrochloride and hydops fetalis is particularly high during the second trimester when the erythrocyte mass expands rapidly, combined with the short lifespan of fetal erythrocytes [16, 19]. Timely transfusion of packed erythrocytes of fetuses is the treatment of choice in severe fetal anaemia and hydrops resulting in a significant reduction of fetal mortality [16, 20, 21]. The risk of acquiring B19V infection during pregnancy is about 1C2% in endemic periods [22, 23], but it may rise to 10% during epidemic periods [24]. The reported seroprevalences of B19V in pregnant women differ between countries ranging between Zatebradine hydrochloride ~35% in Spain [25] and 81% in Sweden [26]. In many developed countries, the epidemiology and trends of B19V infection in women of childbearing age are well known [27, 28]. However, the epidemiological data on B19V infection are generally lacking in many African countries including Sudan. Therefore this study aimed to provide preliminary information about the seroprevalence of B19V infection in Sudan through investigating pregnant women who attended antenatal clinics in Khartoum state, Sudan. METHODS Study area Khartoum state, the national capital of Sudan, covers an area Zatebradine hydrochloride of 22?000?km2. The state is geographically divided into three regions; Khartoum, Khartoum North, and Omdurman, and is administratively divided into seven localities. In addition, it is the most populated Sudanese state with an estimated 53 millions residents, with 68% living in urban areas, 21% in rural areas, and 11% internally displaced people as reported by the Sudan Central Bureau of Statistics [29]. Furthermore, the state is a centre of several medical facilities where 948% of its pregnant women receive antenatal care at least once during their pregnancy and 890% of them are seen by skilled personnel as detailed in the Sudan Household Health Survey, 2006 [30]. Study settings This cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2008 and March 2009, at the antenatal clinics of seven MAP2K7 main hospitals located at the different localities of Khartoum state. The study included 500 healthy pregnant women, who came for routine follow-up at any gestational age and who agreed to participate in the study. Three millilitres of blood sample was collected Zatebradine hydrochloride in plain containers from each woman. Serum samples were separated by centrifugation and stored at ?20C until tested. A questionnaire including the demographic and obstetrical characteristics of the study subjects was administered by the research team. Ethics This study was approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health, Sudan. All subjects were informed about the study and consented before enrolment. Serology testing All serum specimens were screened for B19V IgG and IgM antibodies by the Parvovirus B19-IgG-ELISA PKS? and Parvovirus B19-IgM-ELA Test PKS? ([31] except for labelling the probe with BHQ1 instead of TAMRA. Cycling was conducted on a LightCycler? 480 II instrument (Roche, Germany). The PCR assay is able to detect all three genotypes of B19V. Statistical analysis The statistical analysis was.