A step to combat TORCH infections

TORCH infections are a group of congenital infections that are known to cause significant morbidity and mortality in neonates. They include Toxoplasmosis, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus, Herpes and other infections such as Hepatitis, HIV, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Chickenpox. Per the current antenatal care in Ghana, HIV, Hepatitis B and VDRL is routinely tested for most pregnant women who attend antenatal.

The TORCH panel is a group of blood tests that detect the presence of antibodies produced by the immune system in response to these infections.

They are used all over the world to screen pregnant women for these infections and necessary interventions are taken when patients are found to be positive.

There is little information on prevalence of these conditions in Ghana and other parts of West Africa and it's in light of this that Alvitrak Ghana has collaborated with DoctorsAct Ghana to screen pregnant women in certain few areas around the country.

The hope is to publish the data acquired from this screening exercise to push for TORCH screening to be part of antenatal screening in Ghana.