Molecular Study on Human Cytomegalovirus in Pregnant and Aborted Women

This study aims to investigate the prevalence of Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) among Iraqi pregnant women and to find the most accurate method for rapid diagnosis by using different methods including molecular techniques which were carried out in the molecular oncology unit lab of GSTS pathology Guys and St. Thomas NHS foundation trust hospital/ London/ United Kingdom. The template which used for HCMV investigation were either directly extracted DNA from the blood or extracted RNA from blood (previously conserved with the trizol) then converted later to cDNA by using special kits. Different methods were used for CMV diagnosis including conventional PCR, Real-time PCR and Nested PCR. Beside a fragmentation step and Tailing were performed for the amplified gene under study including ul144, ul123, ul83 and ul97, by designing specific primers using Primer 3 Tool program. The results in this study indicated that Nested and conventional PCR techniques were more effective and more specific as compared with Real-time PCR.