Herpes Can Kill Both the Baby Inside the Womb and the Mother

A herpes is a much serious issue than you could have thought. These sexually transmitted viruses have been connected to various cancers, from genital to cervical, anal or throat tumors. Now, a team at Adelaide's Women's & Children's Hospital and the University of Adelaide, Australia, has connected for the first time this viral infection to high blood pressure in pregnant women and pre-term birth.

The study published in the "British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology," shows that exposure to viral infection (especially to viruses of the herpes group) can be linked with pregnancy-induced hypertensive disease (pre-eclampsia) and pre-term birth. Viral DNA was found in blood taken from 1326 newborn babies, over a 10-year period. Over 400 of these children experienced cerebral palsy (physical disability in development).

"This is an exciting finding and further studies are now required to look at the link between viral exposure in pregnancy and genetic susceptibility to adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as high blood pressure, premature delivery and cerebral palsy," said lead researcher Professor Alastair MacLennan.

Pregnancy hypertension is encountered in 10% of first pregnancies in developed countries, and if untreated, it can cause epileptic fits of eclampsia, resulting the death of the baby and the mother. In developing countries, this is a main cause of maternal death. But the cause of the pregnancy hypertension has not been known.

The new research showed a connection between viral infection in pregnancy, mutations in genes connected to inflammatory and blood clotting functions, and the emergence of cerebral palsy. Some mutations causing changes in inflammatory proteins provoked dysfunction and constriction of the blood vessels of the placenta and brain, resulting the pregnancy hypertension.

"We are just beginning to understand the interaction and importance of exposure to viruses and genetic susceptibility to infection both in pregnancy and the newborn," said co-author Paul Goldwater, Associate Professor and virologist.