No matter how to try to avoid it, catching infections can happen. And infections during pregnancy can be detrimental to the health of the mother and the child. This is why if you are pregnant or trying to be pregnant, you should know about infectious diseases that may affect you and your baby during pregnancy. Given below is information on some prenatal infections.

Group B Strep or GBS. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 out of 4 women carry the bacteria that cause GBS. The likelihood therefore that a pregnant woman is a carrier is quite high. Although they are usually benign and harmless to adults, they can present a danger to your baby. The CDC recommends that pregnant be tested for GBS on the 35 to 37 week of pregnancy. When the test is positive, the mother is given an antibiotic to prevent the bacteria from harming the baby. The antibiotic is most effective when given at least 4 hours before delivery. Be sure to inform your partner and your family that you are GBS positive in case of emergency delivery. Since the most commonly prescribed antibiotic is penicillin, be sure to inform your doctor if you are allergic to this antibiotic. Check out the CDC brocudre on GBS!

Cytomegalovirus or CMV. A pregnant woman infected with CMV can pass the virus to her fetus and cause birth defects or even death. Luckily, the chances of getting infected with CMV are quite low. The infection can be avoided through good hygiene practices. CMV is transmitted through contact with body fluids such as saliva and urine, especially in young children. Pregnant women who are in close contact with small children, be their own or those of others (e.g. job at a daycare or kindergarten) should carefully wash their hands after changing nappies and avoid sharing kids’ utensils. Check out CDC’s CMV brochure.

Listeriosis .Listeriosis is a food-borne infection caused by the bacteria Listeria. Unfortunately, pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get infected. The consequences can be quite serious – miscarriage, stillbirth and premature labor. Pregnant women are therefore advised to be very careful of the food they eat. Eat only thoroughly cooked meat and poultry products and pasteurized dairy product. For more tips on how to reduce the risk for listeriosis, check out CDC’s advice.

Chicken pox or varicella. Chicken pox is caused by the varicella virus and is common in children and rare in adults but the symptoms are much more serious in people 15 years old and older. The consequences of infection during pregnancy can present dangers to both mother and child. Chicken pox during pregnancy can cause fetal varicella syndrome or chicken pox infection of the newborn. Women who are planning to get pregnant and haven’t had chicken pox in their childhood should get themselves vaccinated. Women who are exposed to the varicella virus and who are not sure of their immunity should immediately contact their doctors. Check out UK’s National Health Services information guide on chicken pox and pregnancy.

Toxoplasmosis. This infection is caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite is carried by cats but is also present in raw meat. Toxoplasmosis during pregnancy can adversely affect the unborn child, with effects such as damage to the eyes and the brain. To reduce the risk for toxoplasmosis, pregnant women are advised to take care, especially if there is a cat in the house. Good hygiene, especially hand washing should be observed at all times. Eating uncooked meat and unpasteurized dairy products should also be avoided. More information of toxoplasmosis can be found at Family Doctor.org.

Yesterday, my toddler and I were invited to a party – a chicken pox party.

Have you heard of chicken pox parties? The parents of a child who has caught chickenpox invite his or her friends to their home to catch the disease, believing it’s best for a child to have the disease early and “get it over with”, and then be immune for the rest of their lives. Catching chickenpox in adulthood is a much more serious disease with a much higher complication rate.

Chicken pox is routinely immunized against in the USA but some parents believe that the “natural” immunity from catching the real virus is better than the “fake” immunity from the vaccine.

In most cases, in a healthy child, chicken pox is a mild disease that gets better after a week or two. Proponents of chicken pox parties argue that getting the disease now is better than risking the side effects of the vaccine, and that the vaccine isn’t even particularly effective.

They have a point about the effectiveness. Once you’ve had chickenpox, you won’t get it again. But what about the vaccine? The vaccine has quoted effacy rates of around 80%, which means 80% of children immunized will actually become immune to chicken pox, and the rest will be either somewhat, or not at all immune. The vaccine has only been available for around 20 years, so no-one can say if it does give lifetime immunity.

And in fact some children loose the vaccine immunity 5-8 years after being vaccinated. Some people are worried that as the vaccine immunity wears off in adults, there will be an epidemic of adult chickenpox, which is much more painful, and can be much more serious. But there’s no evidence for this. Many doctors believe children immunized as babies will either keep their immunity for life, or loose it with a few years. The ones that loose immunity will likely catch chickenpox as a young child, and then be immune anyway.

And about the side effects? Less clear. Chicken pox vaccine has never been linked to autism, like MMR has, but side effects of the vaccine are reported for around 5% of vaccines given. Most are mild – a small rash, low fever – but rarely more serious reactions occur. No deaths have ever been reported as a result of the chicken pox vaccine.

No so for chicken pox itself. Almost all cases are mild, itchy, annoying, but mild, and get better. Complications can occur though. Before the vaccine was introduced, every year in the USA, 4 million people caught chicken pox, 10,000 people were admitted to hospital, and around 100 – half of them children – died.

40 million doses of chicken pox vaccine have been given since it was introduced in 1995. So since 1995, no-one has died from the vaccine. In the 40 million chicken pox cases in the ten years prior to the vaccine being introduced, 1,000 people died of the disease.

My feeling is that it’s too early to tell whether it’s better for a child to be vaccinated, or try to get natural immunity from a chicken pox party. There seems to be potential advantages and disadvantages to both.

There’s a very serious reason why chicken pox parties are a bad idea. It’s got nothing to do with the little guests that are trying to get infected. It’s to do with the adult guests, and anyone else who they might transmit the disease to.

Pregnant women should never expose themselves to chicken pox. Chicken pox can cause birth defects, including damage to the baby’s brain, skin and eyes, and other neurological damage. Don’t go to a chicken pox party if you are pregnant, might be pregnant, or even trying to get pregnant. Or live with, work with, or spend time with anyone who is pregnant.

Young infants, the very old, people with AIDS, leukemia, and other immune-compromised diseases are all at a much greater risk of complications from chicken pox. Chicken pox won’t neatly infect just the kids it’s supposed to. The children can spread it to any unintended person who may not be very grateful.

So your child might catch it, but so might you. The Mothering.com article promoting chicken pox parties describes the case of the uncle of a child that caught chicken pox at the party as the “the worst case his doctor had ever seen” with sore kidneys and hundreds of lesions, even down his throat.

So in summary – going to a chicken pox party may, or may not benefit your child more than the chicken pox vaccine would. No-one really knows the answer because the vaccine is still new. But the risk to you, to pregnant women, babies, and other people you know, outweighs the benefits.