Common Mother To Baby Infections That You Should Know.

Expectant mothers are always excited when they discover that there is a new life grooving in their belly.

In most cases, it is an expectant mother’s wish to provide for her baby and offer all the necessary natural maternal protection that is required to have a safe delivery.

During pregnancy, most mothers experience a weakened immune system that usually makes them prone to several infectious diseases.

Conducted research shows how infection can pass from mother to baby and the common infections that expectant mothers should be aware of.

Why are pregnant mothers vulnerable to infections?

When a woman gets pregnant, the presence of the fetus in the womb is considered as a foreign object.

This is an object that the human body is not used to and the body will react by simply lowering the immune against it.

In essence, the immune system of the body normally reacts to foreign objects by mounting immune attacks against them.

Therefore, when a woman becomes pregnant, the fetus is the foreign object and the body is forced to adapt to a self-programmed immune system that is weak.

If this does not happen, the pregnancy period will not be a success and the mother may experience some problem.

The danger and vulnerability to infections will be on both the mother and the fetus because of the immuno-suppressive effect. They are both prone to infection attacks and complications that do not affect healthy growing children.

Common infectious disease risk for the fetus

The spread of infections from mother to baby is known as vertical transmission.

According to researches, these infections can occur before the bay is born, when the mother is in labor or even after delivery.

Here are some of the infections that can spread from mother to baby:

• Congenital infections that can cross from the placenta to the fetus.

These types of infections are mainly caused by infectious microbes and can lead to a slow fetal development or sometimes death.

Apart from Rubella, other common congenital infections include toxoplasmosis, hepatitis B, Cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus.

• Perinatal infections that occur when the mother is in labor or when delivering.

The infections happen at the time when the baby is moving through a birth canal that is infected.

Some of them include herpes simplex virus, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia.

• Postnatal infections that are transmitted from the mother to the baby during the delivery process.

The infections can also spread through infectious microbes when the baby is being breastfed.

Some of the postnatal infections include HIV, CMV and group B strep.

Even though research shows how infection can pass from mother to baby, expecting mothers can take the necessary precaution to avoid them.

Mothers should visit their healthcare providers where they are taking antenatal checks to get all the information and tests they need at this sensitive period.