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Common infectious disease problems that occur in pregnancy are outlined, including implications for pregnancy, appropriate diagnostic techniques, treatments, and methods for prevention of disease in mother and infant. Also included is general information about the use of immunizations and antibiotics in pregnancy.
This article only touches the surface of a very broad subject. As mentioned before, the microorganisms covered were chosen with the practitioner in mind. The reader will note that many of the syndromes discussed have subtle presentations with overlapping symptomatology or essentially no symptoms at all. Clinicians therefore must maintain a high degree of suspicion when faced with such infectious complications of pregnancy.
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OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to determine the frequency of mother-to-child transmission of Toxoplasma gondii from human immunodeficiency virus-infected mothers who are also chronically infected with T. gondii. STUDY DESIGN: One hundred thirty-eight women were entered into a prospective study of human immunodeficiency virus infection in pregnancy. The women were seen at enrollment, during the third, sixth, and eighth months of pregnancy (except those enrolled later in pregnancy or at delivery), at 2 and 6 months post partum, and at 6-month intervals thereafter through 4 years after delivery. Standardized interviews and physical examinations were performed, and blood was drawn at each visit. Toxoplasma serologic testing was performed on the sample drawn earliest in pregnancy; the Sabin-Feldman dye test for immunoglobulin G antibodies and enzyme-linked immunoassays for immunoglobulins M, A, and E were used. Univariate analysis for categoric variables was performed with chi2 and two-tailed Fisher exact tests, and for continuous variables the Student t test was used. Statistical Analysis System procedures were followed. RESULTS: Twenty-eight of 138 (20.2%) women who had positive test results for human immunodeficiency virus had positive findings of the Sabin-Feldman dye test. Serologic status for T. gondii did not correlate with age, immune status, parity, or drug use. One of 27 children born to women who were seropositive for both human immunodeficiency virus and T. gondii (one child's serologic status for T. gondii was unknown) had Sabin-Feldman dye test antibodies beyond age 6 months (3.7%, 95% confidence interval 0.09% to 18.9%). Among the cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected mothers the rate of mother-to-child human immunodeficiency virus transmission did not vary with maternal Toxoplasma status. However, with sample sizes of 28 and 110, respectively, for the mothers who were T. gondii seropositive and seronegative, the power to detect a difference in the human immunodeficiency virus transmission rate between these groups would be relatively small. CONCLUSIONS: Transmission of T. gondii from a chronically infected mother can occur in the setting of a human immunodeficiency virus infection, but this is not a common phenomenon. In a small cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected women we did not observe its occurrence among those without severe immunocompromise.
The occurrence of Hodgkin's lymphoma in pregnancy is unusual; its management poses not only medical but also ethical problems. We report the case history of a pregnant patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Combination chemotherapy was given, with a favourable outcome for the foetus. From a review of some of the available literature, the management considerations are discussed.
Routine antenatal screening can detect some potentially serious infectious diseases or susceptibility to infection and allow intervention to prevent adverse outcomes. However, screening programmes can only be justified if appropriate criteria are met for the quality of laboratory tests and interventions. For many infections that are associated with adverse maternal or fetal effects, there are no suitable, cost-effective methods of screening or prevention. However, early diagnosis of infection in high-risk women or those with symptoms can allow preventive intervention. Acute febrile illness or other symptoms consistent with infection during pregnancy should be investigated more diligently than in a non-pregnant woman. Early diagnosis of an apparently trivial maternal infection may prevent serious fetal disease. When the diagnosis of maternal infection is made, appropriate action depends on the nature of infection and the stage of pregnancy at which it occurs. The results of serological test should be confirmed, preferably by a reference laboratory, by retesting the original specimen(s) and/or testing further specimens, as appropriate. Management decisions generally should be made in consultation with an infectious disease physician or clinical microbiologist with experience of infectious diseases in pregnancy.
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OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of helminth and/or malaria infection on the risk of HIV infection in pregnant women and its transmission to their offspring. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study of pregnant Kenyan women and their offspring from term, uncomplicated vaginal deliveries (n = 936) with a nested case-control study. METHODS: We determined the presence of HIV, malaria, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and intestinal helminthes in mothers and tested for HIV antibodies in 12-24 month-old offspring of HIV-positive women. We related these findings to the presence of cord blood lymphocyte activation and cytokine production in response to helminth antigens. RESULTS: HIV-positive women (n = 83, 8.9% of all women tested) were 2-fold more likely to have peripheral blood and/or placental malaria (P < 0.025) and a 2.1-fold greater likelihood of lymphatic filariasis infection (P < 0.001) compared to location-and-parity matched HIV-negative women. Women with HIV and malaria tended to show an increased risk for mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) of HIV, although this difference was not significant. MTCT of HIV, however, was significantly higher in women co-infected with one or more helminthes (48%) verses women without helminth infections (10%, P < 0.01; adjusted odds ratio, 7.3; 95% confidence interval, 2.4-33.7). This increased risk for MTCT of HIV correlated with cord blood lymphocytes production of interleukin-5/interleukin-13 in response to helminth antigens (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Helminth co-infection is associated with increased risk for MTCT of HIV, possibly by a mechanism in which parasite antigens activates lymphocytes in utero. Treatment of helminthic infections during pregnancy may reduce the risk of MTCT of HIV.
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BACKGROUND: Studying serological tests into syphilis, German measles, toxoplasma and hepatitis B requested as part of the monitoring of pregnant women and analysing the different activities in the face of the findings. METHODS: A descriptive study. A systematic random process was used to select (1/3) 299 cases of women whose pregnancy had been monitored between 1991 and 1993 in three health centres in Jaen (capital of the province of the same name), which have a catchment population of 66,423 inhabitants. We analyse the differences between the centres using the Chi squared test. RESULTS: A serology of syphilis (R.P.R.) was conducted on 269 pregnant women (90% Standard Error (S.E.): 1.7) all of which proved negative; German measles (ELISA Immunoglobulin (Ig) G, toxoplasm (FIAX IgG and IgM) and (HBsAg in 92% (S.E.: 1.6) German measles antibodies being found in 98% (S.E.: 0.8), the HBsAg proving negative in 99% (S.E.: 0.6) and immunity to toxoplasm existing in 13% (S.E.:2). When the data were analysed, being broken down into the different health centres, notable differences were observed (p > 0.04) in the case of German measles. In the five cases were German measles proved negative, the serology was not repeated once, and on two occasions it was the second pregnancy. They do not appear in the history of preventive medicine. Treatment with spiromycine was initiated for toxoplasmosis, and it lasted for 10 to 21 days for five of the cases, but the infection was not confirmed once, and for two of these it was only determined serologically. CONCLUSIONS: Both the percentage of requests for the first serology and the prevalence are consistent with literature on the subject, with the exception of toxoplasm, whose immunity prevalence was much lower than in other zones. The actions taken in the face of certain results were rather inadequate.
Approximately one million pregnancies are complicated by both malaria and HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa annually. Both infections have been associated with maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Intermittent preventive treatment, usually with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, has been shown to prevent pregnancy-related malaria and its complications. Several different regimens of antiretroviral therapy are now available to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and/or progression of maternal HIV infection during pregnancy. However, no published studies have yet shown whether standard intermittent preventive treatment and antiretroviral regimens are medically and operationally compatible in pregnancy. We reviewed existing policies regarding prevention and treatment of HIV and malaria in pregnancy, as well as published literature on adverse effects of antiretrovirals and antimalarials commonly used in pregnancy in developing countries, and found that concurrent prescription of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, co-trimoxazole (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole), and antiretroviral agents including nevirapine and zidovudine per existing protocols for prevention of malaria and vertical HIV transmission may result in adverse drug interactions or overlapping, diagnostically challenging drug toxicities. Insecticide-treated bednets should be provided for HIV-infected pregnant women at risk for malaria. Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine should be prescribed cautiously in women concurrently receiving daily nevirapine and/or zidovudine, and should be avoided in women on daily co-trimoxazole. Further research is urgently needed to define safe and effective protocols for concurrent management of HIV and malaria in pregnancy, and to define appropriate interventions for different populations subject to differing levels of malaria transmission and antimalarial drug resistance.
Congenital toxoplasmosis usually results from acquired infection in non-immune pregnant women. However, severely HIV-infected women with a latent Toxoplasma infection can transmit the parasite as a result of reactivation. We report a case of toxoplasmic reactivation in an HIV-infected woman with moderate immunosuppression resulting in a severe congenital toxoplasmosis.