Immunity refers to the ability of the human (or animal) organism to react in a special way to the presence in it of some substance, most often an alien substance. This reaction enables the body to resist various infections, and, therefore, is very important for survival. And because the immunity in a person's life is so important, then he should pay as much attention as possible. However, during pregnancy, immunity in a specific way changes its behavior, which every future mother should know.
What is changing in the body of a future mother?
Since the school we know that the embryo gets half of the genetic information from the father, and this half is foreign to the mother's body. The second half, inherited from the mother, is recognized by the body as "native." Thus, the embryo for the mother's organism is, as it were, "semi-compatible" genetically.
Immediately after conception, an inconsistent situation arises inside the organism of the future mother. On the one hand, since the organism "sees" a large number of foreign new substances (obtained from the father of antigens), the normal reaction is the production of a significant amount of antibodies. But on the other hand, the efforts of the mother's organism should be aimed at providing the child with everything necessary for him, and sometimes even against his own interests, that is, to act back to the immune system. For these reasons, to combine these actions and not to harm the baby, the work of the immune system is radically restructured.
Earlier among scientists there was an opinion that during pregnancy the woman's immunity is weaker, which leads to an increased risk of infectious diseases. However, according to recent scientific research, the immune system does not reduce its activity, but simply significantly changes the way in which the body works.
Future mothers have no tendency to the emergence and development of inflammatory and infectious diseases, moreover, many of the chronic diseases during pregnancy reduce activity.
However, for correct functioning of immunity during pregnancy, many conditions are necessary.
Conditions for the proper functioning of immunity
- The correct hormonal balance. A large number of hormones produced by the body during pregnancy, such as cortisol, progesterone, estrogens, etc., participate in the immune system, and therefore if they are not enough, then the immunity may weaken.
- Proper development of the placenta and baby. There is a theory that it is the embryo that serves as the impetus for triggering a multitude of changes in the immune system. It is very important that at the time of conception in the body of a woman there were no inflammatory foci, otherwise an inadequate response of the immune system to the baby is possible.
If the change in the functioning of the immune system in the pregnant woman goes wrong, then there may be various problems with the course of pregnancy.
Immunological problems in pregnancy
Infectious diseases. If a pregnant woman often has a cold or has an exacerbation of chronic diseases, this can occur for two reasons - either pathology in the work of immunity before pregnancy, or the presence of untreated infection sites.
Unintention of pregnancy. Medicine knows two types of immunological cause, leading to miscarriage. In the first case, the fetal egg immunity is practically the same as the maternal, resulting in the woman's body simply does not recognize the embryo, causing the death of pregnancy. In this case, immunomodulation is used, that is, on the eve of pregnancy, and also in the initial period, the lymphocytes of the child's father are introduced into the body of the woman to disinhibite the immune response. In the second case, the immunity of the fetal egg is too aggressive with respect to the mother's body. It uses immunosuppression, which is the reception of special drugs (often used in transplantation), which suppress the immune system of the mother's body, preventing rejection of the fetal egg.