Health | / Maternal medicine

Pregnancy affects immune system

By The Columbus Dispatch  • 

A successful pregnancy hinges on many factors, but among the most complex and least understood is the morphing of a woman’s immune system.

“For most women, there aren’t negative repercussions,” said Dr. David Fox, OhioHealth’s medical director for maternal/fetal medicine.

But a heightened susceptibility in pregnant women to some infectious diseases has been linked to changes in the immune system.

For example, an estimated 10 to 20 percent of pregnant women who contract chickenpox also develop pneumonia. The death rate among pregnant, pneumonia-stricken chickenpox cases can reach 40 percent.And pregnant women are five times more likely to become severely ill from flu than women who are not pregnant.

The changes aren’t all bad. Most women with rheumatoid arthritis experience some improvement during pregnancy, said Dr. Carol Major, a maternal- and fetal-medicine expert at the University of California at Irvine.

Obstetrician-gynecologists say the immune-system changes underscore why women need to get plenty of rest, eat well and avoid stress. They also should steer clear of people with active chickenpox or the flu, said Dr. Phillip Shubert, director of maternal and fetal medicine at Mount Carmel Health System.

Flu vaccine can be given to pregnant women anytime. The chickenpox vaccine should not be given during pregnancy or in the month before it begins.