Pregnant women and their developing babies are particularly susceptible to listeria, which can cause miscarriage or stillbirth, or even encourage premature labour. For this reason, many expectant mothers avoid foods like soft cheeses, ice-cream, and raw eggs, despite the rate of listeria infection being relatively low. Now a new study has found that listeria may pose a greater risk of…
Category: infectious diseases
Antiviral drug reduced hepatitis B transmission risk in pregnancy
Daily treatment with the antiviral drug tenofovir during the third trimester of pregnancy significantly reduced the risk of hepatitis B (HBV) transmission from mother to baby, according to new US research. The findings of the study could potentially help to eradicate the disease, say the researchers involved. The clinical trial was led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Centre, who…
Read more > Antiviral drug reduced hepatitis B transmission risk in pregnancy
Mother-to-baby transmission of hepatitis B: a breakthrough?
“Mother-to-newborn transmission of the hepatitis B virus is an enormous global problem”, says Joan Block, executive director and cofounder of the Hepatitis B Foundation. “Of the 350 million individuals living with chronic hepatitis B worldwide, most were infected at birth through perinatal transmission.” New research, suggesting a possible treatment to prevent perinatal transmission of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), could be a vital breakthrough. Hepatitis B is the most common serious liver infection…
Read more > Mother-to-baby transmission of hepatitis B: a breakthrough?
An HIV-free generation still out of reach
Across the globe, slowly but surely, improving treatments and information for pregnant women who are HIV positive are having an impact. The success can be measured in two ways: first, the number of pregnant women who have access to HIV testing and treatment is rising worldwide; second, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is increasing in effectiveness. There…
Pregnancy taboos and HIV
For many HIV-positive women, pregnancy can seem a remote prospect. To begin with there is the natural concern that their illness could prevent them from seeing their child grow up. But there is also the question of the antiretroviral drugs that are essential to their health. Could the drugs they take during pregnancy affect the development of their child? The…
Are anti-malarials safe in pregnancy?
A lot of women across the world are lucky. If they don’t live in regions where diseases like malaria are endemic, then they don’t need to worry about infection and treatment while they’re pregnant. These women don’t have to think about whether or not anti-malarial drugs will affect their unborn child, they just follow the advice of institutions like the…
