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Learn more about the effects of infections on your baby.
Select a topic from the listing at right for detailed information.
Bacterial Vaginosis
This bacterial infection may cause no symptoms. Some women have vaginal discharge and vaginal itching or burning. It can transfer through the birth canal into the uterus and baby. This increases the risk of preterm labour, preterm rupture of membranes, infection during labour or postpartum.
Chicken Pox
Chickenpox, or varicella, is an acute generalized viral disease with sudden onset. There is a mild fever, general malaise and a blister like skin rash that can occur anywhere on the body. Despite chicken pox not being a well reported disease, there is a reported average of 66 case of the disease in Huron County every year.
Infection with chickenpox early in pregnancy may be associated with congenital defects in 2% of cases. Newborns are at an increased risk of developing severe generalized chickenpox with a fatality rate of up to 30% when:
- They develop chickenpox between 5 to 10 days of age; or
- Their mothers develop the disease within five days before or within two days after delivery.
Women should be tested for immunity to chicken pox before becoming pregnant or early in pregnancy. There is a varicella vaccine now available for non-pregnant adults who have not had chickenpox.
Rubella
Rubella is a mild viral disease causing fever and a rash similar to measles. Adults may experience one to five days of low-grade fever, headache, malaise and sore eyes.
Rubella is important to pregnant women because it can cause irregularities in the developing your unborn baby. Women who have never had rubella immunization or rubella disease are at risk of developing Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) if they become infected during pregnancy.
Congenital rubella syndrome occurs in up to 90% of infants born to women who got rubella during the first three months of pregnancy. Unborn babys infected early are at greatest risk of intrauterine death, spontaneous abortion and congenital malformations of the major organ systems. The risk drops if the mother gets rubella later in her pregnancy.
The best protection from rubella is immunization. Most women have a record to indicate that they are immunized. Even though a woman has had Rubella immunization, her doctor will check her immunity level in early pregnancy with a blood test. If the test reveals that she has no immunity, the new mother will be given rubella vaccine before she leaves the hospital with her newborn. This will protect her for future pregnancies. The vaccine cannot be given during pregnancy. Regardless of immunization, women should have a blood test to determine if they have immunity to rubella before they become pregnant or early in pregnancy.
Women who do not show immunity through testing should receive rubella vaccine at a time when they are not pregnant or planning to be pregnant within three months.
More Information on Rubella
Rubella. Public Health Agency of Canada.
Fifth Disease
Fifth Disease begins with a mild viral illness that may produce a fever, tiredness, muscle aches and a headache. It spreads person to person by direct contact such as coughing or sneezing.
There is some risk to the developing baby if a pregnant woman who is not immune to fifth disease is exposed during pregnancy. In very rare cases the virus can disrupt the unborn baby's ability to produce red blood cells, sometimes leading to a dangerous form of anemia.
The risk is lower for exposures in the second half of pregnancy than in the first half.
Women who have had Fifth Disease in the past will have antibodies to protect from getting Fifth Disease again. These women do not need to be concerned about it during pregnancy. About 50 percent of pregnant women are immune to Fifth Disease.
A blood test can be done to see if you are immune to the virus that causes Fifth Disease.
If you are pregnant and think you may have been exposed to Fifth Disease, consult your health care provider.
To reduce the risk of infection, pregnant women should:
- Wash their hands thoroughly after touching tissues used by infected children and dispose of these tissues promptly.
- Avoid sharing drinking glasses or utensils with anyone who has or was exposed to the illness.
Group B Strep
Group B Strep (GBS) are common bacteria which are often found in the vagina, rectum or urinary bladder of women. Group B strep does not usually cause infection in the pregnant women. The baby is at risk of getting the infection as it passes through the birth canal. This infection causes mild to sever problems in the babyÕs blood, brain, lungs and spinal cord. Some babies can die as a result of complications from the infection.
Doctors usually take a vaginal swab to test for these bacteria between 35 and 37 weeks of pregnancy. This test is positive; the mother is given antibiotics when she starts into labour.
HIV & AIDS
HIV is a virus that causes progressive damage to the immune system leading to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). When AIDS develops, the body is prone to develop many infections that are severe and life-threatening.
HIV is transmitted through injection drug use, sexual intercourse, exposure to infected blood products and from mother to unborn child. Fifteen to 30 per cent of infants born to HIV-infected mothers are infected before, during or shortly after birth. Treating pregnant women helps reduce the chance of infant infections. Breastfeeding by HIV-infected women can transmit infection to the infant.
There is no vaccine against HIV.
More Information on HIV or AIDS
STIs: HIV/AIDS. Public Health Agency of Canada.
Clamydia and Gonorrhea
Clamydia and gonorrhea are bacterial sexually transmitted infections common in both men and women. The symptoms and outcomes are similar .When clamydia and gonnorrhea are diagnosed, all sexual contacts need to be treated to prevent re-infection.
Often infected people do not have any symptoms. In women the symptoms may be discharge, painful urination, lower abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding (after intercourse or between periods) or pain during intercourse. There is swelling of the cervix and bleeding of the cervix can occur because of irritation.
Clamydia and gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility. Infection during pregnancy can result in premature rupture of the membranes and preterm birth and eye and lung infections in the newborn.
More Information on Clamydia and Gonorrhea
STIs: Chlamydia. Public Health Agency of Canada.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. The disease is spread through injection drug use, sexual activity, working in occupations where blood products are handled and from infected mother to child. Those with the illness may have no symptoms or experience nausea, vomiting and jaundice. In extreme cases patients may die.
Children infected through their mother are highly likely to develop chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis or liver cancer. Babies born to infected mothers should be given treatment within 12 hours birth.
There is free immunization available against Hepatitis B. It is typically given to students in Grade Seven. It is also available at the health unit's immunization clinic.
More Information on Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
STIs: Hepatitis B. Public Health Agency of Canada.
Herpes (HSV)
A woman may not know that she carries the Herpes virus. Herpes simplex is a viral infection characterized by local open sores that go away and come back periodically. Genital herpes is sexually transmitted and cause sores in the genital area.
Women who have open sores and deliver their baby vaginally are at high risk of infecting your unborn baby or newborn, causing general infection, encephalitis and death. It is recommended that babies be born by cesarean section before the membranes rupture because of this risk of highly fatal infection in the newborn.
Syphilis
This bacterial sexually transmitted disease is passed through anal, vaginal and oral sex. There may be no symptoms, or the person may have a chancre (open sore) in the rectum or on the cervix. If untreated this disease progresses to affect the nervous system.
An infected pregnant woman can pass the infection to the unborn baby. The infection frequently causes abortion or stillbirth. It can also cause infant death.
Toxoplasmosis
One of the most important things to know is that pregnant women should not change the kitty litter. There is a risk that they could be infected with toxoplasmosis. This is a disease that may not give you any symptoms. If there are symptoms, it is like having mononucleosis. The disease is spread through contact with cat feces or by eating raw or undercooked meat. Pregnant women should not have contact with kitty litter.
Infection during early pregnancy may lead to fetal infection and death or brain defects in the baby.
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