STD, urinary tract infections may be bad combination for birth defect
June 21, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
The chances of having a baby born with gastroschisis, a severe birth defect in which infants are born with their intestines and other internal organs outside the abdomen, seems to be increased in women who have had both a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and a urinary tract infection (UTI) just before getting pregnant or in the early stages of pregnancy. In fact, their risk was four times the natural average.
A study, published in the online British Medical Journal, found a tenfold increase in gastroschisis from 1971-2002. According to statistics, in the United States, one out of every 2700 births is a baby with gastroschisis. The younger the mother, the higher the risk. Women in their teens have an 11 times higher risk of having a baby with this defect than women over the age of 25 years.
You can read more about this in the press release: Sexually transmitted disease, urinary tract infections may be bad combination for birth defect.
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