Management of pregnant women with contagious infections at delivery.

Since 1970 pregnant women with contagious infections in the country of Stockholm have been delivered at the Danderyd Hospital, the only hospital in the area which has departments of obstetrics and pediatrics as well as infectious diseases. This paper presents data from a prospective study carried out during a period of 10 years (1975-1984). The study includes 303 women and their newborns who for various reasons were transferred to the Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) before or after delivery. A comprehensive microbiological investigation was made in order to establish an etiological diagnosis in all women included in the study. A possible transmission of the infection from the mother to her fetus/child before or after delivery was also investigated. Only 0.17% of the pregnant women in the area needed care at the DID at delivery or in the puerperal period. 9% of the deliveries occurred at another hospital, 32% at the DID and the remaining at the obstetrical department, Danderyd Hospital. The rate of complications, including cesarean sections, was 12%. Of the 165 women suffering from an infectious disease at the time of delivery, 40% had a verified viral disease--in most cases varicella or mumps, 28% had a bacterial infection and for 32% no etiology of the disease could be established. The study population also includes women suspected either to be incubated with a contagious disease or to be carriers of infectious agents, as well as healthy mothers whose newborns were expected to be carriers of infectious agents such as rubella and varicella. None of the women died during the study period but 5 were seriously ill and 3 needed intensive care. The rate of stillbirths was the same as reported among all births in the country of Stockholm but the perinatal mortality rate was significantly higher (see also a following article, ref. 27). Our routines prove the necessity to take special care of pregnant women carrying a contagious infectious agent at term.