Scientists say pregnancy is contagious

 Women's section

13-06-2019, 11:16

Author: Victoria Savchenko

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Austrian scientists conducted a study that pregnancy can be “contagious.” This is what replyua.net writes, referring to Channel 24. According to experts, quite often there are cases of actually simultaneous pregnancy in women who communicate very closely. In order to check the reliability of this information, scientists conducted a study in which they involved several groups of school friends who maintain friendships after graduation. A total of 1.7 thousand women, aged 30 years, took part in the experiment. As experts have been able to establish, this kind of communication actually directly influences the opinion of representatives of the fair half of humanity about sex, contraception, abortion, and so on. Consequently, seeing an example of a friend having children, a woman herself may come to the conclusion that it is time for her to give birth. Experts emphasized that in this case the probability of getting pregnant reaches its maximum approximately two years after the birth of a friend’s baby. It is worth noting that German scientists also noticed a similar trend. They claim that the example of pregnant colleagues at work can be “contagious.”

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Drugs for the treatment of ARVI

The modern arsenal of drugs for the prevention and treatment of ARVI is very extensive. In order to prevent acute respiratory infections in the autumn-winter and spring periods, various methods are used: vaccination, administration of antiviral and immunostimulating drugs. Unfortunately, most of these drugs are contraindicated during pregnancy. Antibiotics are used only for complicated acute respiratory viral infections in pregnant women, so the prescription of an antibacterial drug must be justified. In each specific case, the risk of taking an antibacterial drug is assessed, the likelihood of its impact on the development of the child’s organs, the presence of chronic diseases in the mother, the duration of pregnancy is taken into account, etc.

To protect your loved ones and reduce the risk of acute respiratory infections in the family, you can consult your doctor and choose influenza vaccines and antiviral drugs to prevent acute respiratory infections.

For ARVI in pregnant women, symptomatic medications (antitussives, expectorants, cold remedies), vitamin complexes, and homeopathic remedies are also prescribed. Aromatherapy, steam inhalations, and physiotherapy are widely used.

Attention!

Dear ladies, do not self-medicate. During pregnancy, medications should be taken only as prescribed by the attending physician and taking into account their possible effect on the fetus.

Recently, in the prevention and treatment of uncomplicated forms of ARVI in pregnant women, preference is given to homeopathic medicines. This is due to the fact that such drugs have virtually no contraindications and are not addictive.

ARVI and influenza during pregnancy - video

Find out from the short video what other preventative measures are available, how else you can treat ARVI, and what you should never do during pregnancy.

Viral infection during pregnancy in most cases goes away without a trace, both for the mother and the child. Still, you need to protect yourself from it, because preventive measures are not so complicated. How do you protect your body from infectious agents?

Have you ever gotten sick during pregnancy? What were you treated with? Share your experience in the comments with those who really need it now.

General description of the disease

Respiratory infections most often spread during the cold season. Peak incidence occurs in late autumn, winter months and early spring. This is explained by a decrease in the protective functions of the human body due to the prevalence of low temperatures and short daylight hours. During the summer, viral infections that affect the respiratory system are quite rare.

Of all cases of colds registered annually by medical institutions, the share of ARVI is about 95%. This category includes infections such as rhinovirus, adenovirus, influenza, MS infection and parainfluenza.

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Factors that increase the risk of developing diseases are chronic pathologies, heavy physical labor, stressful situations, and hypothermia. Categories of people with weak immunity are at high risk of infection. The virus most often affects children, the elderly and pregnant women.

Physiological suppression of a woman’s immune system while expecting a baby makes her vulnerable to any viruses and bacteria, which is why colds are so often reported in expectant mothers. If the disease occurs in the early stages, when a woman does not yet know about her pregnancy, she can use medications for treatment that are dangerous for the unborn child.

Is ARVI dangerous for pregnant women?

There are many dangerous viral diseases. Among those that harm the pregnant woman and the development of the unborn child, rubella primarily belongs. In early pregnancy, this disease can cause complex developmental defects in the baby.

We are talking about deafness and blindness, mental retardation and various defects of the cardiovascular system. If infection with the rubella virus occurred before the twelfth week of pregnancy, then doctors even recommend that the woman have an early termination of pregnancy.

When a woman has had rubella before pregnancy, there is no need to worry. This means that her body already has antibodies that provide immunity to this disease. There will definitely be no re-infection with rubella.

The second most dangerous viral disease for pregnancy is cytomegaly virus. Infection with this virus in the early stages of pregnancy leads to the death of the embryo or spontaneous abortion.

If pregnancy continues, cytomegalovirus can cause dangerous developmental abnormalities in the fetus. When directly infected with cytomegalovirus in the late stages of pregnancy, children are born with symptoms of progressive jaundice, hemorrhagic diathesis, and liver dysfunction.

This occurs when infection occurs during pregnancy. If a woman is a passive carrier of this virus, then if her immunity is normal, the unborn child is not in danger. In order to be absolutely calm, you need to get tested to determine the presence of antibodies to this virus.

Colds that are viral in nature are also dangerous for expectant mothers. Pregnant women are interested in the question of how a cold affects the development of the baby, what is the threat of having suffered from ARVI?

Although it should be noted that not all pregnant women with colds consult a doctor about this. They are more likely to be treated with folk remedies. Quite popular among expectant mothers is, in particular, Zvezdochka during pregnancy.

One of the major studies in medical practice on the impact of viral infections on the fetus was carried out as part of a study of 28 groups of intrauterine developmental defects. His results proved that such infections increase the level of defects in embryos by 16.8%.

The herpes simplex virus is usually hidden. Only genital herpes during childbirth is dangerous. Rarely, transmission of herpes occurs through the placenta in the third trimester of pregnancy. Typically, infected newborns have asymptomatic or mild disease without complications.

The hepatitis virus is characterized by liver damage. The most dangerous viruses during pregnancy are hepatitis B, C and D. If a pregnant woman has the hepatitis B virus, newborns may be asymptomatic carriers. But it is also possible that the size of the liver may increase and the baby will develop liver failure.

HIV infection in a mother is a possible development of AIDS in a child. It is observed in 25% of cases of children born to mothers with this virus. Moreover, in children the disease progresses much faster than in adults.

Chickenpox is a disease that occurs very rarely in pregnant women. However, if this happens, then chickenpox can cause intrauterine developmental defects or pregnancy loss, since the virus can enter the fetus through the placenta.

Acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) are a huge group of viral pathogens that complicate the course of pregnancy and affect the fetus and its health. The most dangerous of them is the flu. If you are infected with influenza before 12 weeks of pregnancy, fetal malformations may occur.

During this period, two situations can happen: either everything goes without consequences for the child, or vices are formed that are incompatible with life. After 12 weeks, the flu has almost no effect on fetal development. It leaves only the risk of developing fetoplacental insufficiency and premature birth.

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You should know that a danger to pregnancy always arises when a bacterial infection is also added to a viral infection. Then the pregnant woman experiences inflammation of the respiratory tract and lungs. Although pneumonia in pregnant women also occurs against the background of good health of the woman.

Competent, effective, safe use of drugs for the treatment of viral diseases in pregnant women presupposes the following conditions:

1. It is necessary to use drugs only with established safety during pregnancy. Their metabolic pathways must be known to anticipate possible side effects.
2. The need to take into account the duration of pregnancy. It is recommended to delay the use of medications until a woman is 5 months pregnant.
3. Careful and regular monitoring of the condition of the mother and fetus during treatment.
4. It is obligatory for the doctor to explain all the risks to the fetus, possible positive and negative aspects of such treatment.

All medications that doctors prescribe for the treatment of viral diseases in pregnant women are divided into three groups:

1. Medicines that do not cross the placenta. They do not cause direct harm to the fetus.
2. Medicines that cross the placenta, but do not affect the intrauterine development of the child.
3. Drugs that cross the placenta and accumulate in the embryo. This increases the risk of abnormal fetal development.

Treatment of viral diseases of a pregnant woman should begin as early as possible. This should be done at the first symptoms of the disease.

However, there are general approaches to such treatment:

1. Mandatory bed rest. Doctors say that a woman should save her strength and rest in order not to complicate the course of the disease.
2. Complete nutrition, rich in natural vitamins.
3. Individual approach to the selection of medications.
4. An increase in temperature is an important protective reaction of the body. Therefore, drugs that lower it must be prescribed strictly according to indications.

During pregnancy, the use of the following medications for the treatment of viral infections is prohibited: acetylsalicylic acid and analgin, ibuprofen and indomethacin, naproxen and mefenamic acid.

At the first signs of a viral disease (ARVI), a woman should, first of all, drink a lot. These could be teas with lemon or raspberries, rosehip infusion, linden tea, milk with honey, or just hot water with lemon.

If a sore throat bothers you, then traditional medicine advises sucking pieces of lemon. They are rich in vitamin C, which simultaneously increases the body's defenses and has a bactericidal effect on viruses.

A pregnant woman’s body needs to focus all its efforts on recovery. This means that they should not be used to digest fatty and heavy multi-component foods. For this reason, during the treatment period it is better to follow a low-calorie diet and drink plenty of fluids.

You should also limit your salt intake. It promotes the appearance of edema and increases such an unpleasant phenomenon as nasal congestion.

In a house or room where a sick pregnant woman is, it is recommended to cut onion or garlic into pieces and place them on plates. This will reduce the chances of contracting a viral infection to all members of her family.

Aromatherapy has an excellent effect. Essential oils of lemon and orange, eucalyptus and fir will help get rid of the viral disease faster. This aromatherapy is recommended to be used as a preventive measure for expectant mothers during seasonal exacerbations of influenza.

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No doctor can predict how dangerous a cold can be for pregnant women and their babies. However, practice shows that the greatest danger to the mother and fetus is acute respiratory viral infection in the early stages of pregnancy, especially when a woman is diagnosed with one of the influenza viruses.

The result of a woman becoming infected with a respiratory infection most often is fetoplacental insufficiency, impaired oxygen metabolism and hypoxia in the embryo, and premature onset of labor.

If the expectant mother suffers the disease in the prenatal period, the newborn may become infected. In addition, doctors note a weakening of labor in women with acute respiratory infections.

In 1st trimester

In the 1st trimester of pregnancy, the rudiments of future organs are formed in the embryo, and the main life support systems begin to form. In the first weeks after conception, the embryo is attached to the wall of the uterus, but does not yet have protection in the form of a placenta.

Constant cell division, characteristic of the initial stage of embryonic development in the 1st trimester, provides a favorable environment for the proliferation of viruses. Once a viral organism enters a cell, it causes its death.

This process cannot cause serious damage to an adult, but for an embryo it can be fatal. Intrauterine infection of the fetus by a viral infection at an early stage of development often leads to severe forms of developmental anomalies and death of the embryo.

How the virus affects the baby depends on the duration of pregnancy. If the fertilized egg has just attached to the wall of the uterus, then most likely a spontaneous miscarriage will occur. Some women who do not know about pregnancy at this stage may never find out about it.

If several weeks have passed since conception, infection with the virus can disrupt the process of embryo formation. In this case, the risk of having a child with pathologies of physical or mental development increases.

In the 2nd trimester

Infections during pregnancy and their consequences for the child

Infections can affect the fetus in one of three ways:

1. They can harm the mother, requiring the use of drugs that can harm the fetus.
2. They can directly harm the baby by causing changes that lead to abnormalities.
3. They can cause premature birth or miscarriage.

Infections that harm the developing fetus include:

• bacterial vaginosis, which can cause premature birth;
• infectious diseases such as hepatitis, syphilis, herpes and HIV, which can infect the fetus;
• chlamydia, which can cause eye infections and pneumonia;
• gonorrhea, which can contaminate amniotic fluid, cause premature labor and lead to eye infections and possible blindness;
• group B streptococcus, which can cause serious complications in newborns and in rare cases can be fatal;
• toxoplasmosis, which can cause abnormalities and mental disabilities in the child;
• listeria, which can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and birth defects;
• cytomegalovirus, which is often harmless but can also cause abnormalities and mental disabilities;
• Zika infection is a mosquito-borne disease that can cause abnormalities and increases the risk of stillbirths and miscarriages. In addition, the Zika virus causes blindness in newborns.

Treatment of ARVI in early pregnancy

Treatment of ARVI in the early stages of pregnancy should occur under the strict supervision of a doctor.

Forget about using foot baths and steam rooms! Do not take aspirin or medications containing it! You cannot use various alcohol tinctures for oral administration or for rubbing! All this can cause a miscarriage!

In addition, during the first 2 trimesters, treatment of ARVI during pregnancy completely excludes the use of vasoconstrictor drugs to eliminate a runny nose! This can also negatively affect the formation of the fetus and its health. They can be used in very rare cases and only when the doctor considers it necessary.

What to do then? If you have a fever, you only need to bring it down if it rises to 38 C or higher. To do this, you should use regular paracetamol or wiping with water at room temperature. You cannot add vinegar essence or alcohol to it.

An increase in temperature is the first sign that the body is trying to cope with viruses on its own. When it increases, interferon is produced, which is a strong opponent for viruses and a number of other pathogens. However, a strong increase in body temperature can lead to disruption of metabolic processes, which should not be allowed at any stage of pregnancy.

If ARVI during pregnancy is accompanied by a severe runny nose and cough, then traditional medicine can be used. But only if the woman does not have an allergic reaction to the ingredients used.

In the fight against a runny nose, rinses and inhalations based on medicinal tinctures of eucalyptus and calendula, as well as sage decoctions, are considered the most effective. If you do not have such products in your home medicine cabinet, you can use a soda solution.

To do inhalation, you need to boil some water and lean over the steam at a distance of 30 cm from the water. Such inhalations should be carried out every 3-4 hours. The last procedure must occur before bedtime.

As for medicines, you can use Aqua-Maris. This is a completely safe product based on sea water. It should be used no more than 5 times a day.

Treatment of ARVI during pregnancy in the 3rd trimester already allows the use of some medications that were prohibited in the 1st and 2nd trimester. However, their use must necessarily occur under the strict supervision of a physician. In the last stages of pregnancy, it is also allowed to use the drugs for the treatment of acute respiratory viral infections, which were described above.