{"id":9531,"date":"2025-03-01T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T18:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/stdpregnancy\/"},"modified":"2025-03-02T00:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T05:25:12","slug":"stdpregnancy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/dpc\/stdpregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"dpc\/stdpregnancy ~  STDs and Pregnancy  &#8211; Delaware Health and Social Services &#8211; State of Delaware"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-swiftype-index=\"true\">\n\n\n\n  <br>\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n  <div class=\"container\" id=\"main_header\">\n\n    \n\n\n\n <!-- BEGIN readspeaker div -->\n\n    <div class=\"rs_skip rsbtn rs_preserve\" id=\"readspeaker_button1\">\n\n      <a accesskey=\"L\" class=\"rsbtn_play\" href=\"https:\/\/app-na.readspeaker.com\/cgi-bin\/rsent?customerid=7262&#038;lang=en_us&#038;readid=main_content&#038;url=https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/dpc\/stdpregnancy.html\" title=\"Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker\">\n\n        <span class=\"rsbtn_left rsimg rspart\"><span class=\"rsbtn_text\"><span>Listen<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n\n        <span class=\"rsbtn_right rsimg rsplay rspart\"><\/span>\n\n      <\/a>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n    <!-- END readspeaker div -->\n\n\n\n\n\n    \n\n    <header class=\"pull-left\">\n\n      <h1><!--[type=EDIT name=\"Page Title\"]-->STDs and Pregnancy<!--[END]--><\/h1>\n\n    <\/header>\n\n    \n\n  <\/div><br>\n\n \n\n  <div class=\"container\">\n\n    <div class=\"row\">\n\n      <div class=\"col-md-3\" id=\"leftCol\">\n\n        <div class=\"panel-group\" id=\"accordion\">\n\n          <div class=\"panel sectionmenu_panel\">\n\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\">\n\n              <p class=\"panel-title\"><a class=\"agency_nav\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapseOne\"><strong><i class=\"fa fa-align-justify fa-fw\"><\/i> Public Health Menu<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n\n\n            <div class=\"panel-collapse collapse in\" id=\"collapseOne\">\n\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" id=\"clf_nav\">\n\n                  <ul class=\"nav nav-stacked nav-pills-clf\" id=\"agency_sidebar\">\n    <li><a href=\"\/dph\/\"><h2>Home <i class=\"fa fa-home fa-fw\"><\/i><\/h2><\/a><\/li>\n    <li class=\"toplevel\"><a data-parent=\"#agency_sidebar\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#HomeMenu\"><h2>About <i class=\"fa fa-caret-right fa-fw\"><\/i><\/h2><\/a>\n      <ul class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"HomeMenu\">\n        <li><a href=\"\/dph\/about.html\">About DPH<\/a><\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"\/dph\/sections.html\">Sections &#038; 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Pregnancy\n\n\n  does not provide women or their babies any protection against STDs. In fact, the consequences of an STD can be significantly more\n\n\n  serious&#8211;even life threatening&#8211;for a woman and her baby if the woman becomes infected with an STD while she is pregnant. As the list of\n\n\n  diseases known to be sexually transmitted continues to grow, it is increasingly important that women be aware of the harmful effects of\n\n\n  these diseases and know how to protect themselves and their children against infection.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>\n\n\n  How can STDs affect a woman during pregnancy?\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  STDs can have many of the same consequences for pregnant women as for women who are not pregnant. STDs can cause cervical and other\n\n\n  cancers, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and other complications. Many STDs are silent&#8211;or present without symptoms&#8211;in women.<br>\n\n\n  Among the additional consequences pregnant women may suffer from STDs are early onset of labor, premature rupture of the membranes\n\n\n  surrounding the baby in the uterus, and uterine infection after delivery.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>\n\n\n  How can a pregnant woman\u2019s baby become infected?\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  STDs can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to the fetus, newborn, or infant before, during, or after birth. Some STDs (like syphilis)\n\n\n  cross the placenta and infect the fetus during its development. Other STDs (like gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B, and genital herpes)\n\n\n  are transmitted from the mother to the infant as the infant passes through the birth canal. HIV infection can cross the placenta during\n\n\n  pregnancy, infect the newborn during the birth process, and, unlike other STDs, infect an infant as a result of breast-feeding.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>\n\n\n  How can STD\u2019s affect the fetus or newborn?\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  Harmful effects on the baby may include stillbirth, low birth weight, conjunctivitis (eye infection), pneumonia, neonatal sepsis\n\n\n  (infection in the blood stream), neurological damage (such as brain damage or motor disorder), congenital abnormalities (including\n\n\n  blindness, deafness, or other organ damage), acute hepatitis, meningitis, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis. Some of these\n\n\n  consequences may be apparent at birth; others may not be detected until months or even years later.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>\n\n\n  Should pregnant women be tested for STDs?\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  STDs affect women of every socioeconomic and educational level, age, race, ethnicity, and religion. The CDC STD Treatment Guidelines\n\n\n  (1997) recommend that pregnant women be screened for the following STDs:\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<ul>\n\n\n  <li>Chlamydia\n\n\n  <\/li>\n\n\n  <li>Gonorrhea\n\n\n  <\/li>\n\n\n  <li>Hepatitis B\n\n\n  <\/li>\n\n\n  <li>HIV\n\n\n  <\/li>\n\n\n  <li>Syphilis\n\n\n  <\/li>\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  Pregnant women should request these tests specifically because some doctors do not routinely perform them. New and increasingly accurate\n\n\n  tests continue to become available. Even if a woman has been tested in the past, she should be tested again when she becomes pregnant.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>\n\n\n  Can STDs be treated during pregnancy?\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  Bacterial STDs (like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) can be treated and cured with antibiotics during pregnancy. There is no cure for\n\n\n  viral STDs such as genital herpes and HIV, but antiviral medication for herpes and HIV may reduce symptoms in the pregnant woman. In\n\n\n  addition, the risk of passing HIV infection from mother to baby is dramatically reduced by treatment. For women who have active genital\n\n\n  herpes lesions at the time of delivery, a cesarean section may be performed to protect the newborn against infection.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>\n\n\n  How can pregnant women protect themselves against infection?\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  Although a woman may be monogamous during her pregnancy, she can remain at risk of STDs if her partner is not monogamous. For this\n\n\n  reason, she may want to consider consistent and correct use of latex condoms for every act of intercourse. Protection is critical\n\n\n  throughout a woman\u2019s pregnancy, including the last trimester when active infection can present a great threat to the health of a\n\n\n  woman and her baby.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  <strong>For more information, please visit the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/std\">CDC website<\/a><\/strong> .\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p>\n\n\n  <strong>Back to<\/strong> <a href=\"stds.html\">Sexually Transmitted Disease Program<\/a>\n\n\n<\/p>  <!--[END]-->\n\n  \n\n      <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><!-- \/container -->\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen STDs and Pregnancy Public Health Menu Home About About DPH Sections &#038; Programs Office Locations Contact Info Calendar Services A-Z Services Air &#038; Water Quality Birth, Death, &#038; Marriage Records Clinics Health Data &#038; Statistics Emergency Preparedness Health &#038; Wellness Healthy Homes Healthy Workplaces Laboratory Restaurant Inspections Screening and Testing WIC Additional Services Information [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":9401,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9531","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10770,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9531\/revisions\/10770"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhss.delaware.gov\/dph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}