How Bacterial Vaginosis Can Harm You and Your Baby
Like I said in the previous
posts, pregnancy is not a simple matter. Having BV can therefore make matters
even more complicated.
It can, in fact, result in
several worrisome conditions:
·
Amniotic Fluid Infection
·
Endometritis
·
Low birth weight baby
·
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
·
Premature Rupture of the Membranes
·
Preterm Birth
·
Preterm Labor
·
Sudden Abortion of the baby
Premature
Births
It has been found that women
with BV are more likely to have premature birth than women who do not have the
condition. Although the cause has yet to be discovered by medical science, it
is clear that one is more likely to give birth prematurely if one has BV.
Premature
Rupture of the Membranes
In relation to premature
birth, women who have BV also suffer from premature rupture of the placenta.
This may in fact explain the cause of premature birth on women with BV.
Low
birth weight
Studies have also found that
women with BV give birth to low birth weight babies. This means that the babies
have less than 5.5 pounds in weight.
Again, the connection between BV and low birth weight babies have yet to
be discovered.
Infections
It is not surprising that
the baby will also get the infection because BV is an infection. As the baby
passes through the vagina, he will get in contact with the BV. Moreover, the
placenta and the amniotic fluid may be infected by the BV.
Pelvic
Inflammatory Disease
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
(PID) is inflammation of the ovary and the uterus. It can range form mild to
severe and is generally caused by bacteria, virus and fungus.
Some of the most common
symptoms of PID are:
1. Discharge
2. Irregular
Menstruation
3. Lower
Abdominal Pain
4. Painful
Sexual Intercourse
PID can lead to serious
short-term and long term complications. Some of these are:
1. Chronic
Pain
2. Ectopic
Pregnancy
3. Infertility
When it comes to infertility
in the United States, PID is responsible for more than 100,000 women becoming
infertile every year.
Endometritis
Endometritis is inflammation
of the walls of the uterus. There are two types of endometritis, the chronic
and the acute.
The acute endometritis, which
is generally caused by infection such as BV, has the following symptoms:
Acute Endometritis is the
one caused by an infection. Here are
some of the common symptoms:
1. Abdominal
Pain
2. Discharge
3. Fever
4. Irregular
Menstruation
So, Although in most cases there
is no clear explanation about BV and their effects on pregnancy, it is clear
that BV affects the pregnancy and the health of the baby.
What is necessary therefore
is to understand that hormones play a very important role in the onset of BV.
As the pregnancy brought changes in one’s hormones, the vaginal environment
change.
This change in the vaginal
environment makes it a good place for the bacteria to grow and multiply.
However, the medical community is still trying to find out a stronger
correlation between BV and pregnancy, such as if certain stages of the
pregnancy make the women more vulnerable.
In the mean time, there are
information that are available for you to use to make sure that you will not
have the negative effects of BV.
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