Document Type : Review Article
Authors
1
Ph.D Student, Department of Microbiology and Virology, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
2
Associate professor, Department of Microbiology and Virology, Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis, is known as communities' inclusive threat. According to the report of World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014, about 3.3 million pregnant women have been infected with tuberculosis. This high rate of TB infection is huge challenge for social health. Prevention and control of TB in the pregnant woman, because of the special status of immune system, requires specific management. So, this study was performed with aim to determine the effects of congenital tuberculosis on the fetus and newborns..
Methods: In this review study, the articles related to TB infection in pregnant women and newborns were extracted from scientific databases such as EBSCO, Chemical abstract, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, MedLib, Iran Medex, ISI, ISC, with no time limitation. These articles were entered to the study according to the confirmed tuberculosis in the patients and the congenital tuberculosis based on Cantwell’s criteria. Also, data analysis was performed qualitatively.
Results: In this study, the most important congenital complications in the newborns of pregnant women with TB in 32 articles which had the inclusion criteria were examined. The evaluation showed that pregnant women are susceptible to tuberculosis and TB transmission in children born from TB-infected pregnant women was higher than non-infected pregnant women. It has been confirmed that tuberculosis has an adverse effect on fetal growth and causes the birth of low weight and premature neonates. Also, neonatal mortality due to TB was associated with an increase.
Conclusion: Early diagnosis and proper treatment can reduce the complications of congenital TB, especially neonatal mortality and the birth of low weight and premature neonates. In this regard, increasing the awareness within health care system and patient, developing the preventive plans and performing rapid diagnostic tests and the implementation of a comprehensive treatment regimen for TB in pregnant women for prevention and treatment is of great importance.
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