Measles during pregnancy: possible consequences, danger, treatment methods

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Measles is considered a "childhood" disease, and all because it is sick, as a rule, it is children. Adults experience this disease many times less than children, and an even smaller number of people infected with measles occurs in pregnant women. On average, this number does not exceed 0.4-0.6 per 10 thousand women in the position. But no matter how rare this problem occurs in the life of expectant mothers, they need to beware of it and always be on the lookout. Measles during pregnancy is extremely dangerous, especially because it often occurs with complications that threaten the safe bearing of the child, and sometimes lead to miscarriage or premature birth.

Measles: what is this disease?

Every person has heard about this infectious disease, but many of us have already forgotten how it manifests itself and how it is treated. The culprit of the disease is a special virus. It provokes in the human bodya whole bunch of disorders, the main of which are severe hyperthermia, a specific rash in the oral cavity and on the skin, as well as inflammation of the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract and eyes.

This virus cannot exist outside the human body, on its own, while it is extremely volatile, so it “mows down” everyone indiscriminately. Measles breaks out in foci, one or two people do not get sick with it, whole families are infected, as well as all those who have been in contact with infected people. Infection occurs by airborne droplets, so anyone who does not have a specific immunity in the body that protects it from the attack of the virus can get sick. Immunity is developed in two ways:

• if a person himself gets measles earlier;
• if he completed the full course of vaccination.

We note right away that the measles vaccine is not given during pregnancy. Usually adults are protected from this disease, although exceptions occur. Therefore, gynecologists always recommend that their patients take a blood test to detect antibodies to the measles virus even before conceiving a child in order to minimize the potential risks of the disease. The fact is that this disease is very difficult for adults to tolerate, the mother's body may not be able to cope with it.

Measles symptoms

The disease has three degrees of severity - mild, moderate and asymptomatic, it is also called atypical. Measles during pregnancy proceeds in the same way as in all other cases, and is characterized by the following symptoms:

• strong increasebody temperature (40 and above degrees Celsius);
• small whitish spots on the inner surface of the cheeks (immediately opposite the molars), visually they have a grainy structure; occur after the seventh day from infection;
• the sky also sometimes has a rash, but not white, but bright red;
• in the first days of illness, an infected person has a cough, conjunctivitis, a severe runny nose;
• later a red rash gradually covers the whole body (it spreads from top to bottom - from the face to the neck, torso, then to the limbs);
• abdominal pain and indigestion, loss of appetite are acceptable.

Measles during pregnancy is dangerous because it is in patients from this group that it most often ends with bacterial pneumonia, especially if the woman did not seek medical help on time. Therefore, the occurrence of the above symptoms should be a reason for an immediate visit to an infectious disease specialist.

Measles during pregnancy

We have already mentioned that there are quite a few cases of measles among expectant mothers. Nevertheless, even those few women who are not lucky enough to be infected with it should understand that they are at risk. The body weakened by pregnancy is harder to cope with the disease, so it faces very serious complications:

• pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia;
• laryngitis, bronchitis, pharyngotracheitis;
• meningitis;
• encephalitis.

How easily and quickly a woman recovers is affected by whether she has been vaccinated before, as well as how quickly she seeks help. In case of contact with the patient, one should not wait for the symptoms of the disease to appear, but take preventive measures, and this is especially important during pregnancy. The measles vaccination cannot be done after the fact, but doctors have special protocols for managing such patients, following which you can minimize all risks of the disease.

Measles Prevention

The main method to prevent measles outbreaks is mass immunization of the population. Children are vaccinated without fail, while the vaccine is given free of charge, revaccination is also done at the expense of budgetary funds. Until this measure was introduced, the number of people with measles around the world was in the hundreds of thousands, this infection was the main cause of childhood death in many countries. At the moment, deaths are extremely rare, but outbreaks of the disease occur regularly, mainly because people deliberately refuse to get preventive vaccinations.

In view of this, it is quite possible to catch measles during pregnancy, because in many places there is no herd immunity against this disease. In order to protect yourself and your child, you need to conduct a study to detect antibodies to measles in the blood. If they are not, then you need to administer the MMR vaccine in advance, but only if pregnancy has not yet occurred. Vaccinated - and measles is not terrible. And with it also such dangerous diseases as rubella andmumps.

When immunization is not possible, a pregnant woman should temporarily refuse to visit crowded places, in no case contact with measles patients, if this could not be avoided, she will have to immediately go to the hospital. It is equally important to strengthen your own immunity. To bring it back to normal, you need to eat right, walk more often in the fresh air, have a good rest, take vitamin complexes prescribed by a gynecologist.

Measles vaccination for adults

The full range of vaccinations that protect a person from measles consists of only two injections. Vaccination against this disease is done in early childhood - 12 months, the second dose is administered at five to six years of age. This is quite enough to make the human body immune to the measles virus for life. Thus, subsequent revaccination is not necessary for adults. The exceptions are certain categories of the population at risk of getting sick with measles, namely he alth workers and educators.

If an adult was not vaccinated against measles as a child, they will be able to correct it at an older age. Two vaccinations will be required, at least one month apart.

Can pregnant women be vaccinated?

We have already said that measles vaccination in early pregnancy, as well as in the second and third trimester is not possible. This virus easily crosses the placental barrier, so the baby will also be infected. predict howit will affect his development, it is impossible. Helping the baby in utero will not work, so doctors never take risks and do not vaccinate pregnant women against measles. In order to avoid the disease, a woman needs to use other methods - avoid contact with infected people and increase her immunity.

Pregnancy planning and illness

Modern pregnancy planning standards include a comprehensive examination of the he alth of future parents, the identification and elimination of problems in their bodies, and only then - the conception itself. Doctors strongly recommend that women protect themselves and their baby in advance from a number of diseases, including chicken pox, rubella and measles. If the patient's history does not indicate that she has already had these ailments, she is advised to do tests to confirm the absence of antibodies to the viruses that cause these diseases, and then carry out the appropriate vaccination. Pregnancy after measles vaccination should not occur earlier than one month after the administration of the drug.

What should I do if a pregnant woman has measles?

In case of even the slightest suspicion of illness, you should immediately seek medical help. This is exactly the case, which can be said - the sooner the better. During the first six days after contact with a measles-infected person, a pregnant woman must be injected intramuscularly with a single dose of immunoglobulin in the amount of 0.25 mg / kg of body weight. Moreover, such an injection is done not only for the purposetreatment, but also as a prophylaxis for measles. A week after potential exposure to the virus, this measure will be ineffective. Immunoglobulin is given to a pregnant woman if she has not previously been vaccinated against measles.

In cases where the symptoms of the disease still manifest themselves, the woman needs to undergo treatment in a hospital. Outpatient treatment for measles is not possible as the disease requires quarantine.

Treatment of disease. Management of pregnant patients

Measles is a viral infection, so it should be treated much like any other acute viral infection:

• observe bed rest;
• drink a lot;
• be in a clean, cool and humid environment.

Since measles affects the respiratory tract, expectorants and inhalations are additionally attributed to patients. During illness, it is necessary to carefully monitor body temperature - in case of its critical increase, immediately take an antipyretic. These measures will help prevent possible complications of measles.

Complications after measles

If you start the disease and do not take adequate measures in time, then it is very likely to proceed with very serious exacerbations. The most common among them are diseases of the lower respiratory tract, including those with an associated bacterial infection. Having allowed such a situation, the pregnant woman will be forced to take medicines that are undesirable in her position, including anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drugs.

Measlesin early pregnancy is dangerous because it can provoke a miscarriage. Unfortunately, this happens to 20% of women. In the second trimester, the situation will not be so critical and probably will not bring any risks regarding pregnancy. But after the 36th week, measles can cause premature birth.

Effects of measles on the fetus

Medics have been studying this issue for a long time, and over the years of research they have come to the conclusion that measles itself, if it proceeds without complications, does not pose a serious danger to the fetus. A direct link between this infection and the development of congenital pathologies in a child has not been confirmed in any of the scientific works. Children whose mothers had the measles virus during pregnancy are usually born underweight and with a characteristic rash, sometimes this happens prematurely. In such cases, immediately after birth, they are given an injection of immunoglobulin and sent to the intensive care unit for round-the-clock observation. Subsequently, the disease transferred in the womb does not affect their development in any way.

But if the mother had measles with complications, the child is more likely to suffer. The most common cause of this is fetal hypoxia. The lack of oxygen and nutrients threatens the fetus not only with a lack of weight, but also with damage to the central nervous system, blindness, deafness, mental and mental retardation.

Pregnancy after measles is also slightly betterdelay to allow the body to recover and bounce back. The very same disease in history does not pose any danger to the fetus. On the contrary, it is very good if the expectant mother had this infection in childhood and has already received immunity from it.