How do STDs affect pregnant women and their babies?
STDs can have many of the same consequences for pregnant women as women who are not pregnant. An STD may also cause early labor, cause the water to break early, and cause infection in the uterus after the birth. Some STDs can be passed from a pregnant woman to the baby before and during the baby’s birth. Some STDs, like syphilis, cross the placenta and infect the baby while it is in the uterus. Other STDs, like gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B, and genital herpes, can be passed from the mother to the baby during delivery as the baby passes through the birth canal. HIV can cross the placenta during pregnancy, and infect the baby during the birth process. The harmful effects to babies may include low birth weight (less than five pounds), eye infection, pneumonia, infection in the baby’s blood, brain damage, lack of coordination in body movements, blindness, deafness, acute hepatitis, meningitis, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, or stillbirth. Some of these problems can be prevented if
