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 2024 were published in the hospital’s annual report in 2025.1

Clinical activity

Figure 1 shows the number of women who booked into the DOVE Service for antenatal care each year during the period 2014–2024. It also shows the diagnosis of viral disease for these women. During 2024, some 191 women booked into the DOVE Service for antenatal care. Of those attending the service, 112 were serology positive. Of these:

• 19 women were positive for HIV infection.
• 32 women were positive for hepatitis B (HBV) surface antigen.
• 30 women were positive for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody.
• 32 women had positive treponemal serology (syphilis).
• 2 women were co-infected with more than one blood-borne infection.

Source: The Rotunda Hospital (2025)

Figure 1: DOVE Service bookings by year, 2014–2024 

In addition to the figures presented in Figure 1, 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 2024. Table 1 summarises the outcome of patients who actually delivered during 2024. Of these patients, 11 were HIV positive, 29 were HBV positive, 26 were HCV positive, and 25 had syphilis. During 2024, 139 women were referred to the Drug Liaison Midwife (DLM) service, including 22 women who had a history of opioid addiction and were engaged in an opioid substitution therapy (primarily methadone) programme. Thirteen were HCV positive and one was HIV positive. Sixty-nine women linked with the DLM delivered their babies in the Rotunda Hospital in 2024.

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, 2024

Source: The Rotunda Hospital (2025)

DLM = drug liaison midwife

1    The Rotunda Hospital (2025) The Rotunda Hospital Dublin Annual Report 2024. Dublin: The Rotunda Hospital. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/44867/