Rubella in pregnancy
Chickenpox is best known as a classic and highly contagious childhood disease. Most adults are immune to the virus. A first infection during pregnancy is rare, but unfortunately very dangerous for the child when it occurs. You should therefore have yourself tested for antibodies in good time and, if there is no immune protection, be vaccinated against chickenpox before pregnancy if possible. Early measures against infection are also possible during pregnancy.
Chickenpox infection during pregnancy
Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious viral disease that is transmitted by droplet infection. The disease can also be transmitted through direct skin contact with chickenpox or shingles. The pathogen belongs to the group of herpes viruses and withdraws into the accumulations of nerves after the first infection has healed. There it is not destroyed by the immune system, but only inhibited. If the immune system weakens, varicella can multiply again years later along the nerve tracts and cause a painful rash known as shingles.
Once you’ve had chickenpox, you build lifelong immunity to the virus. In the meantime, however, there is also the possibility of being vaccinated against chickenpox. Such a vaccination is highly recommended for pregnant women without the appropriate antibodies.
Chickenpox symptoms
The first signs of infection appear 10 to 21 days after infection. The disease is characterized by small, itchy blisters that spread over the surface of the skin and mucous membranes. Once scratched, the skin will scab over and scars may remain. In addition, severe fatigue, fever and headaches can accompany the course of the disease.
Complications of chickenpox in pregnancy
Chickenpox is unpleasant for the mother, but otherwise not a problem. The infection itself cannot be treated, only the symptoms can be alleviated. In some cases, pregnant women also develop a bacterial infection, for example in the lungs.
Danger for the baby with chickenpox during pregnancy?
How dangerous chickenpox can be for the baby during pregnancy also depends on when the mother becomes infected with the virus.
- Before the 13th week of pregnancy, there is very little risk that the baby will be harmed.
- Between the 13th and 20th week of pregnancy, the risk of short stature, deformities, eye infections or scars and tumors is around two percent.
- After that, the phase just before birth is critical again. In eight percent of cases, the pathogen is transmitted to the child without the mother’s antibodies providing additional protection for the small organism. Unfortunately, the newborn then faces a complicated course of the disease with possible consequential damage.
Prevent chickenpox during pregnancy
The risk of contracting chickenpox is very low because around 90 percent of all adults have already developed immunity to the virus. If you are unsure whether you are immune to chickenpox, you can have this checked by your doctor with a very simple blood test.
If you are missing the appropriate antibodies, you can get vaccinated against chickenpox even as an adult. However, this is only possible up to three months before the start of pregnancy, since a live vaccine is used. This means that you will be injected with a weakened number of pathogens. Since your immune system changes during pregnancy, the pathogens can be dangerous for you and your child, even in such small quantities.
Immunoglobulin administration in case of contact during pregnancy
If you have been exposed to chickenpox or shingles, immunoglobulin can be administered up to 72 hours after exposure. It is actually just an extra portion of antibodies that relieves the infection, delays it, sometimes even fights it completely. This is particularly useful if you have caught chickenpox in a critical phase and want to suppress the pathogens until a “better” point in time.
treatment of chickenpox
Unfortunately, the virus cannot be treated beyond that. Your doctor can prescribe something to relieve the symptoms of the itchy smallpox. Antibiotic therapy only makes sense if the chickenpox has also triggered a bacterial inflammation – but the virus cannot be fought with it.