It is hardly possible to say with absolute certainty how great chances to catch chickenpox during pregnancy. Though nevertheless it is possible to make some forecasts. Since nine out of ten patients with chickenpox are children, the risk of getting this disease is significantly increased, which is natural, with constant contact with children.
As for the data collected by statisticians, in pregnant women chickenpox is observed in 2-3 cases per four thousand women. It does not matter whether they had chickenpox earlier or not - in most cases, the future mother has immunity to the infection, which does not at all guarantee a recurrence of chickenpox. Now it is already known that the virus of the disease mutates and the antibodies acquired after a person has had chickenpox once, may not work - medicine has already noted cases of repeated infection with chickenpox. So it's hardly superfluous to be a little bit reinsured.
Features of chickenpox during pregnancy
This infectious disease occurs in pregnant women just like any other person. The factor of pregnancy does not affect the course of chickenpox at all. However, the virus-causing agent of the disease can indeed pose a real threat to the child, although not in the way that pregnant women usually imagine. The form of the threat depends on the form of the course of the disease and the time at which the patient fell ill.
The most dangerous are the first weeks of pregnancy, and the last before delivery. As for the early terms of pregnancy, everything is quite obvious here - in this period the baby's organs are being formed, so any diseases and preparations can somehow influence the process. With regard specifically to the virus-causative agent of chickenpox, it can affect the cerebral cortex, leave scars on the baby's skin, cause limb hypoplasia, microphthalmia, cataracts, cause a delay in the development of the child's organism or contribute to the development of convulsive syndrome. However, in fact, the probability of developing pathologies and deformities in chicken pox is not particularly high - on average, it is no more than one percent. Miscarriages and fetal fetuses are much more frequent. If the infection occurred within a period of up to fourteen weeks, the probability of this is 0.4%, up to twenty weeks - 2%, after which it gradually drops to zero. However, in the very last days before birth, the risk again increases significantly, reaching a maximum within three days before the birth and a week after childbirth.
Regarding the course of the disease, with the appearance of complications in the mother and the attachment of a secondary infection, the risk to the fetus increases. However, as mentioned above, pregnancy itself is not considered an aggravating factor.
What to do if you are sick with chickenpox
First of all, no matter how hard it sounds, do not panic! Risks in case of chickenpox disease during pregnancy do not differ from the risks of any other person. The presence of the disease is not an occasion for abortion. Simply you will need to pass additional tests, as well as undergo several studies that will be assigned to you by your doctor. It can be such an analysis and research as HGH-markers of prenatal pathology, chordocentesis, chorion biopsy, amnocentesis.
In order to completely minimize the already small risk for the fetus, the pregnant woman is administered a special immunoglobulin. For treatment, aciclovir is usually used, and for the removal of itching, calamine lotions are used.
If the infection occurred in the most dangerous period (three days before the birth or a week after), the activity of the doctors will be more active, since the baby can be born with a congenital disease, which in most cases proceeds quite heavily, with numerous complications. In these cases, doctors tend to delay delivery for a while, at least for a few days. Otherwise, the newborn is injected with immunoglobulin, and then a course of antiviral therapy is administered.
The virus-exciter can pass through the barrier of the placenta, so the newborn will also have antibodies.