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Infections during Pregnancy

The good news about infections is that the overwhelming majority of them can be treated before they do harm to your baby. The bad news is that most infections that can be dangerous to babies are sexually transmitted, and they often go untreated because women do not get appropriate screening or because treatment is not adequate.

It can be awkward for a health care professional to tell a woman that she needs to be tested for a sexually transmitted disease. It is especially hard if the woman thinks this means that her lifestyle has been judged. But, informed health care professionals know that it is imprudent to make assumptions about who is or is not at risk. The safest approach is to talk to all women about the importance of screening and to screen the majority of women.

If you are diagnosed with an infection, be sure to involve your partner in the treatment and to take all of your medicine as prescribed. These infections are never welcome visitors to a household, and some women find it helpful to seek counseling to deal with the emotional impact that comes with the diagnosis.