The abbreviation is formed from the first letters of infections: T - toxoplasmosis, O - other infections, R - (rubella), C - cytomegalovirus, H - herpes simplex virus. "Other" include infections such as hepatitis B and C, syphilis, chlamydia, gonococcal infection, pervovirus infection, listeriosis, HIV, chicken pox and enterovirus infection. They pose a threat during pregnancy, as they can adversely affect the fetus, lead to infertility, miscarriage, stillbirths or serious malformations of the baby. But do not be scared beforehand. Timely studies and full detailed information will help keep the situation under control. So, what is the real danger, and what are only false fears?
Positive test results always indicate the presence of infection and danger to the fetus.
A positive titer in the analysis means only that a woman has recently been in contact with an infection, or she once had a disease and has immunity to it. In the latter case, there is nothing to worry about at all: the mother's body has developed antibodies capable of resisting dangerous pathogens, they will reliably protect both her and the baby and will not allow the development of the disease. The danger is only an acute phase of the disease, when the primary infection occurred during pregnancy, and the infection is able to penetrate the placenta, causing intrauterine infection.
The presence of dangerous infections during pregnancy women are not always dangerous to the fetus and do not always lead to disastrous consequences.
If a woman is, only the carrier of the infection, the causative agent can not penetrate to the child and somehow affect his condition. The phase of a chronic disease is more dangerous, since it can grow into an acute one, but this does not always happen. In this case, the doctor will appoint a woman additional studies, the results of which will be carried out therapy. And even in the most dangerous period of the acute stage of the disease, the probability that the fetus will suffer is not absolute.
Repeated infection with dangerous infections during pregnancy is impossible.
There are indeed infections, which can not be repeated. For example, if in childhood a woman had rubella, her body received a permanent lifelong immunity to this disease. But many other viruses can be activated in the body and repeatedly. However, in this case it is not worth worrying - there is practically nothing for the future baby. During primary infection, the body produces specific antibodies - class G immunoglobulins, which have a high ability to bind an infectious agent. So through the placenta or fetal water the virus does not fall to the fetus.
Infection in late terms is almost not dangerous for the child - after all, all the organs have already been formed.
Infection with TORCH-complex infections is dangerous during the entire period of pregnancy. The most serious anomalies of the fetus infection, in fact, is during the first trimester, but within the last 12 weeks the likelihood of the virus getting from the mother to the baby increases several fold. And this can lead to inflammation of various kid's organs and premature birth. Almost always the central nervous system suffers to varying degrees.
Since toxoplasmosis is a "cat's disease", it can only be infected from cats. The main source of this disease, in fact, are cats, especially walking on the street, as the development of toxoplasm occurs in the cat's body. However, with feces, our pets give this intracellular parasite an external environment, and other animals and birds are easily infected there. They themselves do not isolate toxoplasm, but a person can become infected through raw meat (especially for poultry meat). Also, infection is possible through direct contact of the skin with feces or the earth in which they once were - toxoplasm can persist for years! That is why the disease is often "brought" from the sandbox children.
To detect the majority of infections of the torch-complex can only analyze. Almost all these diseases are asymptomatic, and the woman herself can not guess that she has recovered. Or the symptoms can appear quite late, at the acute stage of the disease. That is why it is so important even during the planning of pregnancy to take a blood test for torch-infection. By the presence and concentration in the blood serum immunoglobulins class A, G and M can determine the presence of the disease in women and its form. During pregnancy, the analysis is recommended to be repeated in order to exclude primary infection during this important period.
Prevention of torch-infections is useless - or get sick, or not. Of course, infections surround us everywhere, but still, you can take some measures to minimize the risk of infection.
For this, first of all, it is necessary to observe simple rules of personal hygiene: wash hands after contact with the land and raw meat, and take care of pets only with gloves. When preparing food, the food should be thoroughly heat treated, the milk should be chosen only pasteurized. From some diseases, for example rubella, it is better to get vaccinated at the planning stage of pregnancy (in the event that the analysis did not reveal the presence of antibodies). And of course, we should avoid contact with people who are already infected with the diseases of the torch-complex.
How to read the test:
The blood test shows whether the infection of the torch-complex is present in the body, and whether the future mom has immunity to these diseases. This can be determined by the presence of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgM, IgA) in the blood serum. They appear in the body at different stages of the disease. When primary infection increases the level of IgM. After a certain period (from a week to a month), their concentration begins to fall, but this process can take quite a long time, so the most important for IgG studies, which appear later and eventually become increasingly visible - the ability to bind an infectious agent. IgA appears in the serum even later and also indicates an acute phase of the disease. At a later stage, the amount of IgM and IgA gradually decreases, and as a result, only IgG remain.
Thus , if the analysis reveals only IgG in the blood in small amounts, it means that the woman either once had the disease and has immunity to it, or has recently been in contact with the infection. An increased amount of IgG indicates that the previous chronic disease has passed into the acute phase. In this case, it is recommended after a while to repeat the analysis: if IgM appears in the blood, the woman again becomes contagious, but the threat to the future baby is unlikely. If IgG and IgM are found at the same time, or the tests showed only the presence of IgM, this may indicate both an infection before the pregnancy and the disease is already in the process of it. It is in this case that it is recommended to make additional studies that determine how long these antibodies have appeared in the body.