Home > DOVE Service, Rotunda Hospital annual report, 2022.

Millar, Seán ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4453-8446 (2024) DOVE Service, Rotunda Hospital annual report, 2022. Drugnet Ireland, Issue 87, Winter 2024, pp. 52-53.

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The Danger of Viral Exposure (DOVE) Service in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin was established to meet the specific needs of pregnant women who have or are at risk of blood-borne or sexually transmitted bacterial or viral infections in pregnancy. Exposure may also occur through illicit substance use. Figures from the service for 2022 were published in the hospital’s annual report in 2023.1

Clinical activity

Figure 1 shows the number of women who booked into the DOVE Service for antenatal care each year during the period 2012–2022. It also shows the diagnosis of viral disease for these women. During 2022, some 157 women booked into the DOVE Service for antenatal care. Of those attending the service, 99 were serology-positive. Of these:

  • 14 women were positive for HIV infection.
  • 41 women were positive for hepatitis B (HBV) surface antigen.
  • 20 women were positive for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody.
  • 24 women had positive treponemal serology (syphilis).

Source: The Rotunda Hospital (2023)

Figure 1: DOVE Service bookings by year, 2012–2022

Table 1: Deliveries to mothers attending the DOVE Service who were positive for HIV, HBV, HCV or syphilis, or who were attending the DLM service, 2022

Source: The Rotunda Hospital (2023)

* One set of twins.

** Final serology test not yet available for all infants.

DLM = drug liaison midwife.

 

In addition to the figures presented above, a number of women attended the service for diagnosis and treatment of human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes simplex virus, chlamydia, and gonorrhoea.

It should be noted that these numbers refer to patients who booked for care during 2022. Table 1 summarises the outcome of patients who actually delivered during 2022. Of these patients, 17 were HIV-positive, 37 were HBV-positive, 31 were HCV-positive, and 18 had syphilis. During 2022, some 117 women were referred to the drug liaison midwife (DLM) service, including 36 women who had a history of opioid addiction and were engaged in a methadone maintenance programme. There was a total of 62 deliveries to mothers under the DLM service in 2022, of which 32 were on prescribed methadone programmes.


1    The Rotunda Hospital (2023) The Rotunda Hospital Dublin annual report 2022. Dublin: The Rotunda Hospital. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/39464/

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