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Infectious disease of the mother during pregnancy can damage the developing fetus. Among the acute ailments occurring in a pregnant woman and causing developmental disorders, we can mention rubella, cytomegaly, toxoplasmosis and listeriosis.
Infectious diseases of the mother during pregnancy, affecting the development of the fetus
1. Rubella is an infectious disease caused by a virus. It is not dangerous for children, but it is very dangerous for pregnant women. The period of the first 3 months of pregnancy is dangerous for the disease. Infection during this period leads to the formation of malformations (defects in the septum of the heart, hypoplasia), damage to the organ of vision (e.g. cataract) and the organ of hearing (hearing loss). These are rubella embryopathies.
Prevention includes, first of all, avoiding contact with patients by a pregnant woman, gamma-globulin can be administered, but its action does not always bring the expected results, or immunization of girls aged 13–15 years.
2. Cytomegalovirus is a disease caused by the cytomegalovirus, and is one of the most severe infections of the fetus during the entire period of pregnancy. Symptoms infectious diseases of the fetus most often include damage to the central nervous system, e.g. meningitis and encephalitis or hydrocephalus. Symptoms also concern damage to the hematopoietic system, liver with symptoms of jaundice and hemorrhagic diathesis. The disease of the fetus can persist for several months, and after the birth of a child, neurological disorders are observed: microcephaly or hydrocephalus.
3. Infection with the acquired immunodeficiency virus, HIV. Infection with HIV 1 and HIV 2 causes the development of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). It is now believed that perinatal transmission of the virus occurs both intrauterine and during labor. After childbirth, the virus is transmitted mainly through the mother’s milk, and about 20% infections happen before childbirth. It is now suspected that the vast majority of these early infections end up in spontaneous abortion. The mechanism of fetal infection is not yet fully understood. Approximately 80% of perinatal HIV infections occur during delivery and come into contact with HIV in the mother’s reproductive tract.
Children can become infected with HIV:
- in the fetal stage (the virus crosses the placenta),
- after childbirth, when the mother is breastfeeding (HIV has been detected in the mother’s milk),
- following transfusions of blood and blood products.
No infections are observed among children in kindergartens and schools (by droplets), while children suffering from AIDS are particularly exposed to infections, such as:
- tuberculosis
- Chickenpox,
- stage.
They require special care and protection.
4. Listeriosis. It is a condition caused by a bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which lives with animals. A pregnant woman is usually infected with food, such as the milk of sick cows or contact with other animals.
There are two clinical forms of listeriosis: acquired intrauterine through the placenta, giving the picture of sepsis, and acquired in the neonatal period in the course of the inflammatory process of the mother’s genital tract. In the case of intrauterine infection, bacteremia quickly develops, the fetus is born prematurely in 1/3 of the cases, and dead in 1/4 of the cases. If a newborn is infected during delivery, due to ingestion of listeria-infected amniotic fluid, the symptoms of the disease appear 7–14 days after the baby is born into the world, and the disease is very severe, usually in the form of a generalized infection with symptoms of acute cardiovascular failure , with angina, cyanosis and psychomotor restlessness, as well as a full complex of symptoms of meningitis and encephalitis.
Serological tests (antibodies determination) are used to diagnose listeriosis. In the newborn, germs can also be found in the urine.
5. Toxoplasmosis. The disease is caused by a protozoan Toxoplasma gondiiwhich causes infection in the mother’s body, enters the fetal circulation and locates in various organs.
Each of the abovementioned diseases of the fetus may pass in the womb, and if the infection was acquired at the end of pregnancy, also in the neonatal period. They all run as a generalized infection, and the disease process develops in many organs: the liver, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, brain and others. The most dangerous is encephalitis in toxoplasmosis and cytomegaly, and purulent encephalitis in listeriosis.
The consequence of the disease is psychomotor retardation or seizures. The choroidal retinitis found in toxoplasmosis and cytomegaly often leads to eye damage, including blindness. All of these postnatal conditions show chronic jaundice. In pregnant women and in the newborn after birth, toxoplasmosis can be diagnosed on the basis of special serological tests (Sabin-Feldman test).
Treatment is possible in the mother during pregnancy and in the child after birth, as decided by the doctor.
6. Congenital syphilis is nowadays a rare disease thanks to the widely used prophylaxis. However, if a woman experiences syphilis during pregnancy and does not respond to treatment, she will have a stillborn or a newborn with congenital syphilis.
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