How does chickenpox affect the health of mother and fetus?

This is an automatically translated article.

This article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Truong Nghia Binh - Obstetrician-Gynecologist - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Vinmec Da Nang International General Hospital. Doctor has more than 13 years of experience in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
If you're pregnant and have chickenpox (varicella) - a highly contagious viral infection that causes an itchy, blister-like rash - you and your baby could face serious health risks strong. Find out more useful knowledge in this article!

1. What is chickenpox?

Chickenpox (popularly known as varicella) is a respiratory disease or direct contact caused by infection with Varicella zoster virus (VZV), common in children. The incubation period is about 2 weeks.
Clinical symptoms are usually easy to recognize: Fever, fatigue and blisters all over the body, diameter of blisters from 2 to 5mm.
Infections are not usually dangerous in children. But 1 to 2 out of 10 pregnant women (about 10 to 20 percent) who get chickenpox have a dangerous form of pneumonia.

2. Frequency of chickenpox in pregnancy

At Tu Du Hospital, every year, more than 70,000 cases of antenatal care visit, including a large number of pregnant women with chickenpox. In the first 2 months of 2009 alone, 11 pregnant women had chickenpox.
According to various studies, the frequency of primary (first time) chickenpox during pregnancy is about 5/10,000 - 7/1000, because most pregnant women have had chickenpox as a child or have been pregnant. previously vaccinated.

3. How does chickenpox affect pregnancy?

Women who have been infected with chickenpox before becoming pregnant or have been vaccinated against chickenpox are immune to the disease, which already has antibodies against the disease. Conversely, if the mother is pregnant but has never had chickenpox and has not been vaccinated against chickenpox, the chance of the baby being born will be affected, although not as much as in some cases, the baby may have the syndrome. congenital varicella. This is a group of birth defects that can include:
Scars Problems with muscles and bones Arms or legs that are paralyzed or not formed correctly Blindness Epilepsy Learning problems Microcephaly - This is a a birth defect in which a baby's head is smaller than expected, compared to babies of the same sex and age. Only about 1 or 2 out of 100 babies (1 to 2 percent) whose mothers had chickenpox during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy have congenital varicella syndrome. You may have an ultrasound to check for some birth defects caused by chickenpox.
Birth defects It's very rare that you get chickenpox after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But your baby may have problems with the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) if you become infected during the third trimester of pregnancy.
Infection after 20 weeks of pregnancy can also cause shingles in a baby during the first 1 to 2 years of life. Shingles (also called herpes zoster) is an infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. A person with shingles has painful blisters that usually appear on a small area of ​​the body. Shingles does not seem to cause birth defects or infections in the baby.

4. How to handle when pregnant women have chickenpox

Pregnant women need to rest, drink lots of water, eat easy-to-digest liquid foods, if fever can take paracetamol fever reducer. Keep the body clean, avoid breaking the blisters because there is a risk of superinfection.
For pregnant women with severe advanced chickenpox infection, there is a risk of pneumonia, so you need to be hospitalized and treated with antiviral drugs higher through the intravenous route.

5. Prevention

If you've had chickenpox before, there's nothing you need to do to protect your baby during pregnancy. Your body should have antibodies that protect you from getting chickenpox. Thus, your baby will be protected.
If you have not had chickenpox before and are pregnant, you may receive an injection of zoster immune globulin (ZIG) when you are exposed to someone who has chickenpox. ZIG must be given within 4 days of first exposure. This is only given if you do not already have antibodies to chickenpox.
You can get the chickenpox vaccine if you don't have chickenpox antibodies and you're not pregnant. You must wait 3 months before trying to conceive.

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