Flu Causes Premature Births
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| Anne Kelly |
| 11/23/2009 |
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| Since the H1N1 vaccine arrived at hospitals and clinics around the country pregnant women have been urged to step up for a shot..to protect themselves and their growing baby. Now hospitals are seeing what happens when they don`t, when the virus gets to them before they do. Medcenter One says H1N1 isn`t just causing fever and sore throats...it`s also causing some mothers to go into labor early... Medcenter One`s NICU is on lockdown. Anyone who has flu symptoms isn`t welcome, but even with such strict regulations, little ones born recently are still being affected by H1N1. "We have had cases of mothers going into early labor that had felt sick, they had maybe a fever and a headache," says Dr. Rafael Ocejo, a neonatologist for MEd They had, and tested positive for, H1N1. Ocejo says a number of babies have been born prematurely in the past few months because their mother carried the virus. "It`s a concern, of course, to see any baby born prematurely but it`s even more of a concern when it`s happening related to the influenza virus," Ocejo says. Ocejo says the risk of giving birth early should be one of many reasons pregnant mothers get in to get to the H1N1 vaccine. He says they should also get the shot because their immune system changes while they`re pregnant, and they`re less able to fight off the flu. And because a mother may pass the virus on to her newborn child if she, herself, is not protected against it. "I believe there has been some misinformation at times," says Ocejo. "So parents have questions. They are scared to receive a vaccine that is new and because of the possibility that there are risks that we do not know about." But, Ocejo, and the CDC says, the vaccine is safe. And a woman only puts herself at risk if she puts off getting vaccinated." For those who are still on edge about the vaccine, there`s a preservative free option available at most clinics and hospitals that offer H1N1 vaccinations. |
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