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What Does My Torch Test Result Indicate?

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Posted on Sat, 19 Apr 2014
Question: I' m 6 week pregnant. my recent (21-march-14)torch test shows toxoplasma igg +ve (9.3 IU/ml) and igm -ve(3.0 IU/ml) and my past(8-nov-13) torch shows both igg & igm -ve ( both 3.0 IU/ml) please advice me what to do?
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Answered by Dr. Nilaj Kumar Bagde (32 minutes later)
Brief Answer: Detailed explanation given below. Detailed Answer: Hello and welcome to HCM, I am Dr Nilajkumar a consultant gynecologist and I will be helping you in your queries. It seems that you have had torch test done and the recent report shows a level of 9.3 for IgG and 3 for IgM. However when I viewed your November and current report I found that CMV and rubella IgG are also increased. The TORCH group of infections are a number of organisms that can infect us and if the infection occurs during pregnancy, they can cause harm to the baby. These infections are very common as the organisms are ubiquitous. Toxoplasma [ T of Torch] is transmitted from cats and animals and produces a syndrome of congenital toxoplasmosis. Rubella is similar to measles but can cause birth defects. CMV is a herpes virus and once infected may remain latent in the body. Having said all this the take home message is that this special test is done to see if the mother is having any of these active infections. The IgG and IgM are the body's defensive soldiers that fight these infections. The IgM is the first line soldier and comes when the infection is active. IgG comes when there is recovery from the infection. So you are having elevated titres of IgG and not IgM. This indicates that you have had these infections in the past and the body has recovered and there is no active infection now. Once acquired these antibodies [ IgG and IgM ] will not disappear completely. They do not need any treatment as the body has already taken care of these. My only concern is the rising titre of toxoplasma for IgG. This may indicate that the body is still fighting the infection. However a positive IgG is not an indication for treatment. It is best to receive treatment for these infections before getting pregnant as the drugs used for treatment are also harmful for the baby. As of now, my own experience as well as data suggests that women with higher torch titres are at a slightly higher risk of abortions. So you must have regular antenatal care. Use of progesterone and HCG to support pregnancy may be helpful and can be taken after discussing with your gynecologist. An ultrasound at 20 weeks is important and must be done by a skilled radiologist to specifically look for any anomalies in the baby. If there are none, there is no need to worry. Just continue your routine antenatal care and you will be fine. Please do not worry. You are not having active infection and will most likely do well. Hope this was helpful. Feel free to ask any further queries and I will be happy to help. Please close the discussion if there are no further queries. Thanks for using HCM. Have a good day. Dr Nilajkumar Bagde Consultant Obstetrics and Gynecology
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
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Dr. Nilaj Kumar Bagde

OBGYN

Practicing since :1999

Answered : 307 Questions

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What Does My Torch Test Result Indicate?

Brief Answer: Detailed explanation given below. Detailed Answer: Hello and welcome to HCM, I am Dr Nilajkumar a consultant gynecologist and I will be helping you in your queries. It seems that you have had torch test done and the recent report shows a level of 9.3 for IgG and 3 for IgM. However when I viewed your November and current report I found that CMV and rubella IgG are also increased. The TORCH group of infections are a number of organisms that can infect us and if the infection occurs during pregnancy, they can cause harm to the baby. These infections are very common as the organisms are ubiquitous. Toxoplasma [ T of Torch] is transmitted from cats and animals and produces a syndrome of congenital toxoplasmosis. Rubella is similar to measles but can cause birth defects. CMV is a herpes virus and once infected may remain latent in the body. Having said all this the take home message is that this special test is done to see if the mother is having any of these active infections. The IgG and IgM are the body's defensive soldiers that fight these infections. The IgM is the first line soldier and comes when the infection is active. IgG comes when there is recovery from the infection. So you are having elevated titres of IgG and not IgM. This indicates that you have had these infections in the past and the body has recovered and there is no active infection now. Once acquired these antibodies [ IgG and IgM ] will not disappear completely. They do not need any treatment as the body has already taken care of these. My only concern is the rising titre of toxoplasma for IgG. This may indicate that the body is still fighting the infection. However a positive IgG is not an indication for treatment. It is best to receive treatment for these infections before getting pregnant as the drugs used for treatment are also harmful for the baby. As of now, my own experience as well as data suggests that women with higher torch titres are at a slightly higher risk of abortions. So you must have regular antenatal care. Use of progesterone and HCG to support pregnancy may be helpful and can be taken after discussing with your gynecologist. An ultrasound at 20 weeks is important and must be done by a skilled radiologist to specifically look for any anomalies in the baby. If there are none, there is no need to worry. Just continue your routine antenatal care and you will be fine. Please do not worry. You are not having active infection and will most likely do well. Hope this was helpful. Feel free to ask any further queries and I will be happy to help. Please close the discussion if there are no further queries. Thanks for using HCM. Have a good day. Dr Nilajkumar Bagde Consultant Obstetrics and Gynecology