What complications can rubella cause during pregnancy?

TORCH infections - a group of these pathologies is familiar to almost every woman who has already become a mother or is just planning a pregnancy. The group of these dangerous infectious diseases is one of the most important and topical issues of modern obstetric and gynecological practice. Rubella is a widespread infection and also belongs to the TORCH group. The occurrence of this disease during pregnancy threatens the unborn fetus with intrauterine development of serious defects. How and why pregnant women become infected with rubella, and what it can turn into later - estet-portal.com knows the answers to these questions.

Dangerous consequences of rubella during pregnancy

Rubella is one of the most widespread and dangerous TORCH infections. Quite often, rubella outbreaks occur in closed children's groups, while pregnant women can become infected from children at home, at playgrounds, in schools and kindergartens. To date, the world is actively vaccinating children against rubella, however, the percentage of seronegative women who do not have immunity and can become infected with rubella ranges from 5 to 10%. Like other TORCH infections, rubella during pregnancy leads to the development of serious birth defects in the fetus.

Rubella:

• rubella etiology: how a pregnant woman becomes infected;
• what determines the risk of fetal rubella infection;
• Clinical manifestations of congenital rubella: fetal malformations.

Rubella etiology: how a pregnant woman becomes infected

Rubella is an infectious disease that affects only humans. Rubella is caused by a small RNA virus, the rubella virus. Often, rubella infection occurs in childhood, when a rubella epidemic occurs in schools or kindergartens. After a single exposure to rubella, a long-term immunity to the virus develops. Women who have not been vaccinated and did not have rubella as children can get the infection from their children. The incubation period for rubella virus is approximately 14-16 days, and infected people are the source for one to two weeks after the onset of the rash. The virus enters the human body through the nasopharynx, penetrates into the cervical lymph nodes, and on the 8-9th day of the disease spreads throughout the body.

What determines the risk of fetal rubella infection

Primary infection with the rubella virus during pregnancy leads to infection of the placenta, and subsequently to infection of the fetus. The risk of vertical transmission of the virus to the fetus depends on the period of pregnancy in which the infection of the mother occurred:

• Infection of the mother in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy - risk of infection of the fetus 80%;
• infection of the mother at 13-14 weeks of gestation - risk of infection of the fetus 70%;
• Infection of the mother at 26 weeks of gestation - risk of infection of the fetus 25%.

The classic congenital malformations of the fetus from intrauterine rubella infection are heart defects, cataracts, and sensorineural deafness. At the same time, symptoms appear in 100% of children if the infection occurred in the first 11 weeks of pregnancy, in 50% of the infection at the 11-12th week and in 35% of the infection at the 13-16th week of pregnancy. After 16 weeks, the risk of infection of the fetus becomes negligible.

Clinical manifestations of congenital rubella: fetal malformations

All clinical manifestations of congenital rubella in newborns are divided into three main groups:

• transient manifestations: symptoms occur in the first few weeks of a child's life, they do not recur and are often not associated with long-term consequences. Such manifestations include thrombocytopenic purpura, hepatosplenomegaly, meningoencephalitis and others;
• permanent malformations: appear in children much later, for example, in adolescence or adulthood and are associated with much more serious consequences. These defects include eye damage, heart defects, central nervous system disorders and deafness;
• late malformations include insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, deafness, mental retardation, various developmental disorders. Late defects are associated with the formation of immune complexes that are located in different organs and give symptoms a few years after the birth of the child.

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