Prevalence of CMV antibodies among women of childbearing age in different social environments in southern Israel

The prevalence rate of IgG antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV) was determined in a sample of 567 women of childbearing age in the southern part of Israel by the immunoperoxidase assay to membrane antigen (IPAMA) technique. Urban Jewish women of Afro-Asian origin showed significantly higher rates of seropositivity than urban Jewish women of European-American origin (80% vs 65%, respectively, P less than 0.001), closely resembling the level of CMV seropositivity found in Afro-Asian and European-American countries in the same age and sex population groups. The Bedouin women showed slightly lower rates of CMV seropositivity (75%) than Jewish women of Afro-Asian origin. Particularly high rates of CMV seropositivity were detected in women who live in a kibbutz environment: 96% in women of Afro-Asian origin and 80% in women of Euro-American origin. Multiple discriminant analysis also singles out the kibbutz environment as a major contributor to the variance between the groups tested (P less than 0.003).