CONTINUING EDUCATION :: WOMEN’S HEALTH
One of the highest-impact areas of women’s health involves testing pregnant women for viral and bacterial pathogens that may affect the baby. The rise of molecular diagnostics for
common maternal and fetal tests Increased focus on identifying viral and bacterial pathogens commonly passed By Michelle Tabb, PhD
I
n the broad medical domain known as women’s health, one of the highest-impact areas involves caring for women during pregnancy. After all, any testing or treatment performed in
this window affects not only the health of the expectant mother but also the health of the baby.
Obstetricians and their clinical laboratory partners are in- creasingly focused on the identification of viral and bacterial
Earning CEUs
See test on page 14 or online at
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this article, the reader will be able to: 1. List common pathogens that is passed from mother to infant.
2. Discuss limitations of culture-based pathogen screening methods.
3. Discuss the benefits of molecular-based pathogen screening methods.
4. Describe the etiology, pathogenicity, and past and current screening methods for mother-to-infant pathogenic infections.
8 MAY 2022
MLO-ONLINE.COM
pathogens commonly passed on to the developing fetus during gestation or to the infant during birth. Common infectious disease targets include the herpes simplex virus — both HSV1 and HSV2 — and group B Streptococcus (GBS). A congenital infection of particular concern, cytomegalovirus (CMV), is a well-known healthcare issue, however screening for primary CMV infection or reactivation during pregnancy or for CMV in newborns is currently not included in universal screening recommendations.
All three pathogens are pervasive among the general public
and can infect their hosts without triggering symptoms, often for years. As a result, many people are unaware that they are silently harboring these pathogens, leading to increased transmission, possibly to vulnerable pregnant women. While these pathogens can be relatively harmless for healthy adults, infection in utero or during birth can be much more dangerous for a baby’s health and development. This is why testing expecting mothers is es- sential for delivering effective healthcare for women. In recent years, technological improvements have made mo- lecular diagnostics an attractive alternative to traditional testing techniques for this particular area of women’s health needs. Molecular detection of HSV1, HSV2, and GBS have produced reliable results with high sensitivity and faster turnaround times, often delivering information in just a few hours, compared to the days or even weeks it can take with culture-based methods.
Image by Iuliia Bondarenko from Pixabay
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