Which infections can affect pregnancy?For the latest information on COVID-19 and pregnancy, visit CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-actress-precautions/pregnancy-breastfeeding.html.

Infections that can affect the wellness of the pregnant adult female, the pregnancy, and the babe after delivery include (merely are not express to):

  • Bacterial vaginosis is the near common vaginal infection in women of reproductive age. It increases the run a risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and may play a part in preterm labor. The condition results from a change in the balance of bacteria that unremarkably live in the vagina. Having unprotected sex and douching can increase the risk of bacterial vaginosis. The Centers for Illness Command and Prevention (CDC) recommends that meaning women get tested for bacterial vaginosis if they accept symptoms and become treated if necessary.1
  • Chlamydia infection during pregnancy is associated with an increased take chances of preterm nascence and its complications.2 If the infection is present and untreated at the time of delivery, it can atomic number 82 to heart infections or pneumonia in the infant.i In most hospitals, infants' optics are routinely treated with an antibiotic ointment soon after nativity. The ointment can preclude blindness from exposure to chlamydia bacteria during commitment in instance the meaning woman had an undetected infection.
  • Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus present in many body fluids that can be spread through shut personal contact, such as kissing or sharing eating utensils, as well as sexual contact. The virus usually does not cause health problems, but in one case it is in a person'south trunk, it stays at that place for life and tin reactivate at different times. A meaning adult female may not fifty-fifty know she has the infection, and she may pass the virus on to her fetus, causing congenital CMV infection. About infants with congenital CMV infection never bear witness signs or have health problems. However, some infants accept health bug such as hearing or vision loss, seizures, or intellectual disabilities that are apparent at birth or that develop later during infancy or childhood.3 Currently, routine screening for CMV during pregnancy is not recommended. Researchers are working on treatments for CMV and vaccines to try to prevent new infections during pregnancy and to reduce the adventure of transmission to the infant.4Congenital CMV infection can exist diagnosed by testing a newborn baby'southward saliva, urine, or claret. Treatment with antiviral drugs may subtract the risk of wellness problems and hearing loss in some infected infants.
  • 5th affliction is caused past human parvovirus type B19. The virus causes a common childhood illness that spreads easily from person to person. Children who get it usually have a fever and a red rash on their cheeks. Parvovirus B19 commonly does not crusade problems for pregnant women or the fetus, but in rare cases, the adult female might have a miscarriage or the fetus could develop anemia. There is no vaccine or handling for fifth affliction. You tin can reduce your adventure of being infected with parvovirus B19 or infecting others past avoiding contact with people who have parvovirus B19 and by thoroughly and regularly washing your easily. Sometimes health intendance providers recommend testing pregnant women to see if they are immune to the virus already.
  • Untreated gonorrhea infection in pregnancy has been linked to miscarriage, preterm birth and low birth weight, premature rupture of the membranes surrounding the fetus in the uterus, and infection of the fluid that surrounds the fetus during pregnancy. Gonorrhea tin besides infect an infant during delivery as it passes through the nascency culvert. If untreated, infants can develop eye infections and blindness. In almost hospitals, infants' eyes are routinely treated with an antibody ointment shortly after birth to preclude eye problems from exposure to gonorrhea during delivery, in case the pregnant woman had an undetected infection. Treating gonorrhea equally presently as information technology is detected in pregnant women reduces the take chances of transmission.
  • Group B streptococcus (GBS) tin can crusade serious wellness problems in infants. But giving antibiotics during labor can prevent the spread of GBS, so information technology's of import to get tested for the infection during pregnancy. Learn more than almost GBS and pregnancy.
  • Pregnant women who get infected with genital herpes late in pregnancy have a high take a chance of infecting their fetus. The chance of infection is particularly loftier during delivery.1 Herpes infections in newborns are serious and potentially life-threatening. Infection with the canker virus during pregnancy or at the time of delivery can lead to brain damage, blindness, and impairment to other organs. Rarely, herpes infection during pregnancy tin lead to serious complications in the mother, including severe liver damage and maybe death.
    • If a pregnant adult female has had genital herpes in the past, in that location are medications that she can take to reduce the chance that she will have an outbreak, which also reduces the gamble to her fetus.
    • If a woman has active herpes sores when she goes into labor, the infant can be delivered by cesarean section to reduce the chance that the infant will come up in contact with the virus.five
  • If a woman is infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) during pregnancy, the virus could infect her fetus. The likelihood of transmission depends on when during pregnancy the mother was infected. If the mother gets the infection later in her pregnancy, the risk that the virus will infect her fetus is quite loftier. If the infection occurs early in pregnancy, the take chances of the virus infecting the fetus is much lower. For more information about Hep B during pregnancy, visit the Centers for Disease Command and Prevention (CDC) website. In infants, HBV can be serious and tin can lead to chronic liver disease or liver cancer later on in life. In add-on, infected newborns have a very high risk of condign carriers of HBV and tin can spread the infection to others.
    • In some cases, if a adult female is exposed to HBV during pregnancy, she may be treated with a special antibiotic to reduce the likelihood that she volition get the infection.
    • All healthy infants should be vaccinated against HBV to give them lifelong protection.
    • Infants born to women with show of ongoing HBV infection (HBV surface antigen positive) should also receive hepatitis B hyperimmune globulin as soon as possible later on birth.7
  • Hepatitis C virus (HCV). CDC offers more than information about HCV.
  • HIV/AIDS . HIV can be passed from mother to infant during pregnancy before nativity, at the time of commitment, or after nascence during breastfeeding.six
  • Human papillomavirus (HPV). CDC offers more information nigh HPV, including vaccine recommendations.
  • Listeria or listeriosis is a serious infection unremarkably caused by eating nutrient  contaminated with a particular type of bacteria. Infection during pregnancy can lead to pregnancy loss, stillbirth, preterm nativity, or life-threatening infection of the newborn. Listeriosis is well-nigh often associated with eating soft cheeses and raw milk, but recent outbreaks have been associated with fresh and frozen produce. Prevention recommendations include checking food labels to avert eating unpasteurized cheese (made from raw milk) and other deportment. Learn more than nearly preventing listeria during pregnancy.
  • Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. It is caused by strains of the bacteriaBorrelia and is transmitted through the bite of certain species of ticks. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease has more than information on lyme affliction. In addition, the CDC provides a handout about pregnancy and lyme disease (PDF ane.ii MB)
  • Getting rubella (sometimes called German measles) during pregnancy can crusade issues with the pregnancy as well as nascence defects in the infant. Health care providers recommend that women become vaccinated against rubella earlier they get pregnant. Learn more about rubella and pregnancy.
  • Syphilis may pass from an infected mother to her fetus during pregnancy. The infection has been linked to preterm birth, stillbirth, and, in some cases, death shortly later on birth. Untreated infants who survive tend to develop problems in many organs, including the brain, eyes, ears, centre, peel, teeth, and bones. All significant women should be screened for syphilis during their first prenatal visit. Women considered to be high run a risk should be screened once again in the third trimester.one
  • Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a parasite that tin can be present in cat feces or used cat litter. Cats get the parasite from eating small animals or birds. In humans, the disease is normally mild, only if the parasite passes from a pregnant adult female to the developing fetus, information technology can cause intellectual disabilities, incomprehension, or other problems. Women who are trying to become pregnant or are pregnant tin can have steps to forestall exposure to the parasite, such as having someone else clean or change the cat litter box and wearing prophylactic gloves to handle cat litter or while gardening.
  • Trichomoniasis. CDC offers more data well-nigh trichomoniasis.
  • Zika is caused by a virus spread mainly past the bite of a sure type of mosquito, but it is as well spread through sexual contact. Although its symptoms are usually mild, Zika infection during pregnancy can cause pregnancy loss and other pregnancy complications, too as birth defects and other bug for the babe.

CDC provides additional information on infections during pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy.

Citations

Close Citations

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). STDs during pregnancy - CDC fact canvas (detailed). Retrieved January 17, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/std/pregnancy/stdfact-pregnancy-detailed.htm
  2. Rours, G. I., Duijts, L., Moll, H. A., Arends, Fifty. R., de Groot, R., Jaddoe, 5. W., et al. (2011). Chlamydia trachomatis infection during pregnancy associated with preterm commitment: A population-based prospective cohort study.European Journal of Epidemiology , 26(6), 493–502. Retrieved January 18, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21538042
  3. Centers for Disease Command and Prevention. (2010). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and congenital CMV infection. Retrieved December 28, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/cmv/index.html
  4. Krause, P. R., Bialek, South. R., Boppana, S. B., Griffiths, P. D., Laughlin, C. A., Ljungman, P., et al. (2013). Priorities for CMV vaccine development. Vaccine, 32(1), 4–x. Retrieved Jan 18, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4623576/
  5. Medline Plus. (2017). Genital Herpes. Retrieved January eighteen, 2017, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000857.htm
  6. American Higher of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2012). HIV and pregnancy. Retrieved January 18, 2017, from http://www.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/HIV-and-Pregnancy external link
  7. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2019). Hepatitis B and hepatitis C in pregnancy. FAQ093. Retrieved Dec 30, 2020, from https://world wide web.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/hepatitis-b-and-hepatitis-c-in-pregnancy external link

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