Maternally Transferred Antibody of Dengue and Chikungunya Viruses in Pregnant Thai Women and Their Infants

Abstract

In a cross-sectional study at Ban Pong Hospital, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand, 147 maternalcord
paired sera were tested for dengue and chikungunya antibodies by hemagglutination inhibition
assay (HAI). Nearly 94 percent of pregnant women had HAI antibody to at least one dengue serotype;
the proportion of antibody to DEN-1 was 93.2, DEN-2 92.5, DEN-3 93.8, and DEN-4 93.2
percent. Almost all of the infants had the same proportion of seropositivity to each dengue serotype.
Antibody titer was highest in DEN-3, followed by DEN-4 and DEN-1, in both maternal and cord
sera. The lowest titer was shown for DEN-2 antibody. The of seroprevalence of chikungunya antibody
in maternal-cord sera was much lower, at 8.2 percent, with a low HAI titer of 6.1. In this
dengue-endemic area, most infants had maternally transferred dengue antibody, which may impact
upon disease burden among this population.
Key words: dengue, chikungunya, pregnant women, infants, transplacental transferred antibody