Во время ожидания ребенка беременную женщину may be in danger. Unfortunately, during pregnancy, the female body becomes most vulnerable. Therefore, the expectant mother may encounter even those diseases that have never bothered her before. The topic of our conversation today will be such a problem as chlamydia and pregnancy. Chlamydia is a very insidious disease. Numerous clinical studies have reliably shown that the presence of chlamydia in a woman has a very negative effect on the reproductive system. Firstly, chlamydia is highly likely to lead to the development of infertility. And if the expectant mother suffers from chlamydia, it can cause infection of the child and even termination of pregnancy.
What is chlamydia and where does it come from?
Chlamydia are very interesting creatures thatобладают особенностями сразу и бактерий, и вирусов. По своим размерам хламидии в разы крупнее, чем бактерии, но меньше, чем вирусы. С вирусами хламидии связывает еще одна общая черта – они могут существовать только внутри клеток. Вне организма хозяина они просто погибают. Происходит это вследствие того, что хламидии не могут самостоятельно вырабатывать энергию – они ее получают из клеток организма хозяина. Комфортнее всего хламидии чувствуют себя в клетках половых органов человека. И поэтому наиболее часто хламидийная инфекция поражает именно мочеполовую систему женщины. В более редких случаях хламидии могут локализоваться в эпителиальной ткани нижних отделов тонкого кишечника. Кстати говоря, чаще всего это происходит в том случае, если у человека имеет место дисбактериоз. У беременной же женщины хламидиоз зачастую поражает не только половые и мочевыводящие пути, но и плодные оболочки, и самого малыша. Источником инфекции является человек, больной хламидиозом. Очень важно помнить о том, что хламидиоз может весьма длительное время протекать без каких бы то ни было симптомов. И даже сам «носитель» заболевания может не догадываться о том, что он представляет потенциальную опасность для своего полового партнера. Хламидиоз является типичным представителем классической инфекции, передающейся половым путем. А соответственно, как нетрудно догадаться, и путь передачи именно половой, при незащищенном половом акте. Использование презервативов в некоторой степени снижает риск передачи инфекции. Существует возможность инфицирования хламидиозом бытовым путем, через загрязненные предметы гигиены – полотенца, мочалки и прочее. Хотя на долю подобных способов инфицирования приходится не более 5% всех случаев заболевания, забывать о том что, что все предметы личной гигиены должны быть именно личными, нельзя. Во время беременности появляется еще один способ передачи хламидиоза – «вертикальный», из половых путей матери к плоду. Как уже говорилось выше, при беременности хламидии проникают в амниотическую жидкость, а потом поражают сам плод. Заражение плода происходит из-за того, что малыш постоянно заглатывает небольшие количества амниотической жидкости. Кроме того, инфекция может оседать на слизистых оболочках плода. Хламидиоз при беременности – не такое уж и редкое явление. Он встречается примерно у каждой десятой будущей мамы. Причем зачастую хламидиоз бывает у женщин с неосложненным течением беременности, хорошим общим состоянием здоровья и социальным положением. Поэтому эту опасность нельзя упускать из виду ни одной женщине – проблема хламидиоза может коснуться абсолютно любую будущую маму. Ну а уж в том случае, если у женщины ранее было бесплодие, воспалительные процессы придатков, и тем более выкидыши, риск того, что у нее окажется хламидиоз, превышает 65%. Как правило, врачи всегда обращают на этот фактор пристальное внимание. Женщина отправляется на обследование, позволяющее подтвердить или опровергнуть наличие в ее организме хламидий. При необходимости назначается соответствующее лечение. Причем гораздо разумнее пройти обследование заблаговременно, еще до наступления беременности. Это позволит избежать многих ненужных волнений и неприятных моментов, связанных с лечением заболевания. Но и в том случае, если беременность наступила не запланировано, не стоит отчаиваться – современная медицина дает возможность вылечить будущую маму без каких-либо негативных последствий для здоровья малыша. 
The mechanism of infection
It is impossible not to say a few words about howThis is where the infection occurs. When in close contact with the mucous membranes of the carrier, chlamydia penetrates the mucous membranes of a healthy woman. After a short time, chlamydia begins to penetrate into the epithelial cells and cells of the immune system. In these cells, chlamydia can exist for a very long time - up to 3 - 6 years. About two days later, the immune system comes to its senses. And begins to respond adequately - to produce leukocytes. As a result, an inflammatory reaction develops, the intensity of which can vary from weak to pronounced. If the problem is not noticed immediately, pathological structural changes in the tissues affected by chlamydia are possible. These pathological changes in the tissues are the main complication of chlamydia. If the disease overtook a woman before pregnancy, damage to the ovaries and fallopian tubes with a high degree of probability can lead to infertility. And during pregnancy, the favorite habitat of chlamydia is the cervix. And, of course, a chronic inflammatory process cannot proceed without complications – it can lead to premature termination of pregnancy or premature birth. Infection of the baby is no less dangerous. Chlamydia causes much more harm to the baby’s body – there is a high probability of malformations of the child’s internal organs. And sometimes even intrauterine death of the fetus is possible.
Symptoms of Chlamydia in Pregnant Women
Symptoms of the disease may vary.And they largely depend on what stage of development the infection is at and where the inflammatory process is localized. If chlamydia is localized in the urethra, we are talking about chlamydial urethritis. The following symptoms are observed:
- Discharge from the urinary canal
In some cases, it may appeara small amount of discharge from the urethra. These discharges are usually slightly cloudy and have a white tint. In the case of a strong inflammatory process, they may contain an admixture of pus.
- Discomfort in urination
As the disease progresses, it is very commonduring urination, a burning sensation or stinging sensation appears, as with cystitis. These sensations sometimes cause many unpleasant minutes for the sick woman - every visit to the toilet becomes a test. And pregnant women, as is known, go to the toilet very, very often due to their physiological characteristics.
- Pain in the abdomen
The inflammatory process cannot but have an effecton the condition of the bladder. And as a result, a woman may experience a feeling of heaviness and pain in the lower abdomen, in the bladder area. Although this type of disease is quite rare. Much more common is cervicitis - chlamydia of the cervix. The development of the inflammatory process in this case occurs in the cervical canal. As a result, the cervix swells quite strongly, increases in size. If the process lasts for a long time, there is a violation of the normal structure of the epithelium of the cervix. As a result, erosion of the cervix may develop. And for pregnant women, a typical location is the mucous membrane of the vagina. This phenomenon is called chlamydial colpitis. In addition, sometimes chlamydia can be located in the glands located near the vagina. Such localization of colpitis is explained by hormonal changes in the woman's body. However, we must not forget that urogenital chlamydia can very often be completely asymptomatic. That is why monitoring of a pregnant woman and routine examinations necessarily include tests for chlamydia. In no case should you ignore visits to the doctor and the examinations prescribed by him. After all, a problem detected in time significantly increases the chances of a successful recovery and normal course of pregnancy.
More about the danger
I would like to tell you more about it once againwhat kind of danger chlamydia poses to the baby. And we will begin the story about chlamydia infection in the early stages of pregnancy. The most important complication is spontaneous termination of pregnancy, or intrauterine cessation of fetal development. This happens largely due to the fact that chlamydia causes very severe placental insufficiency. As you might guess, placental insufficiency inevitably entails a violation of the full supply of oxygen to the child. And lack of oxygen is nothing more than hypoxia. And you do not need to have special medical knowledge to guess what it threatens the child with. Everything depends on the degree of hypoxia. If it is moderate, then damage to various systems and organs is possible, from mild to severe. In the best case, the baby will be born with mild muscle tone, and in the worst case - with severe damage to the nervous system. Well, if hypoxia is too strong, the pregnancy may stop altogether – the baby will simply die in the womb. And the results of disruption of the baby’s supply of nutrients are also very deplorable. In case of a mild disruption, the baby is born with iron deficiency anemia, vitamin deficiency, and very low body weight. All these complications of chlamydia most often develop in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. In later stages of pregnancy, the most common complication is infection of the baby itself. As a result of this process, the baby’s internal organs are often affected – most often this concerns the kidneys, liver, and pancreas. The threat to the baby’s health and life depends on the degree of damage. But in any case, treatment should be started as early as possible. This measure will help reduce the harm to the baby’s health.
Diagnosis of Chlamydia During Pregnancy
Many women often ask - but howour mothers gave birth to children without even hearing about chlamydia? Didn't it exist before? Of course it did. But, unfortunately, that level of medicine did not allow detecting chlamydia and diagnosing the disease. And all cases of spontaneous abortion, fetal growth retardation and congenital fetal diseases remained with the wording "unclear etiology (origin)". Fortunately, today there are quite a large number of types of immunological and microbiological studies. The study is very simple and will not cause any discomfort to a woman. First, it is necessary to collect biological material, which will then be thoroughly studied. Biological material is secretions from the vagina, cervix and urethra. For this, completely painless smears will be taken from the expectant mother. Remember that when going to a doctor's appointment, you cannot douche. Otherwise, the results of the study may be incorrect. In some cases, it is necessary to determine whether the baby is infected. For this purpose, it is necessary to collect amniotic fluid. As a rule, expectant mothers are usually very scared. And indeed, there is some risk. But it is extremely small, since the entire procedure is carefully monitored by ultrasound monitoring of the doctor's manipulations and the baby's condition. And the doctor will never prescribe it if the possible risk is higher than the possible benefit. Therefore, you should not refuse to examine the amniotic fluid. Often, this procedure allows you to promptly identify the problem and save the baby not only health, but sometimes even life.
Treatment of chlamydia in expectant mothers
As you may have already seen for yourself, pregnancy andChlamydia is not the best allies. This means that it is necessary to get rid of chlamydia as quickly as possible. Treatment of chlamydia is significantly complicated by the woman's condition - after all, not all medications can be used by pregnant women. Chlamydia penetrates into the cells of the genitourinary system of the expectant mother, and is located there. And only antibacterial drugs can destroy them. As a rule, antibiotics from the tetracycline group cope very successfully with chlamydia. But this treatment even in non-pregnant women causes an extremely large number of various side effects and complications. What can we say about expectant mothers? Moreover, this group of antibiotics has a very negative effect on the baby's body and is therefore prohibited for use in pregnant women. Therefore, today, the most modern antibiotics belonging to the macrolide group are used to treat chlamydia in pregnant women. For obvious reasons, we will not provide the exact names of drugs in this article, much less the dosage. Moreover, this is impossible to do. All medications are selected by the attending physician, strictly individually and taking into account all the features of the pregnancy and the woman's disease. But for successful treatment of chlamydia, it must be comprehensive. In addition to taking antibacterial drugs, the doctor will necessarily prescribe drugs that will eliminate the existing intestinal and vaginal dysbacteriosis, which is an invariable companion of chlamydia. In addition, it would be useful to undergo a course of treatment aimed at correcting and stimulating the immune system. But remember that the immune system of a pregnant woman is an extremely complex issue. Therefore, all decisions regarding this issue should be made by an immunologist, together with a gynecologist monitoring the course of the sick woman's pregnancy. As a rule, timely and comprehensive treatment of chlamydia brings very good results.
Treatment of chlamydia with folk remedies
There are several quite effective onesfolk recipes for the treatment of chlamydia, which can be used by pregnant women. They will not have any negative impact on the health of the expectant mother, and especially on the health of the baby. But, nevertheless, if the expectant mother decides to try any of them, it is still better for her to first consult with her attending gynecologist. And one should not forget about such a phenomenon as individual intolerance to one or another component.
- Infusion of garlic
The Amazing Antibacterial Properties of Garlichas been known to people for many centuries. It is not for nothing that garlic is used to treat colds and viral diseases. And garlic can also be invaluable in the treatment of chlamydia. First, you need to prepare a garlic infusion. It is prepared as follows. Peel 6 medium-sized cloves of garlic, chop and pour one glass of hot water. Place in a warm and dark place for about 12 - 14 hours. After this, the resulting infusion must be filtered using gauze. Do not forget to squeeze out the pieces of garlic - they contain a large number of useful biologically active substances. Mix the resulting solution with one tablespoon of honey, mix thoroughly and leave for another hour. The resulting infusion should be used for douching. The expectant mother should douche at least twice a day - in the morning and before bed. The course of treatment should not exceed 10 days. Some sources advise eating two or three cloves of garlic during the entire course of treatment in parallel with douching. However, doctors warn that garlic may cause heartburn in expectant mothers.
- Calendula
Calendula is very effective in such situations.It not only has a detrimental effect on chlamydia, but also very effectively relieves inflammatory processes that inevitably arise as a consequence of chlamydia. For treatment, an oil infusion of calendula flowers and an ordinary infusion are used. Take 50 grams of dry calendula inflorescences, grind them and place them in an enamel bowl. Pour a glass of olive oil over the calendula and bring to a boil over low heat. After the oil boils, turn off the heat and leave to infuse for a day. Then strain with gauze and pour into a glass container. It is used as follows: thoroughly soak a hygienic tampon of the smallest size in an oil solution and leave it overnight. This procedure must be carried out strictly after preliminary douching with calendula infusion. And the decoction is extremely easy to prepare. Place 3 tablespoons of calendula flowers in a thermos and pour one liter of boiling water. Cover tightly with a lid and leave to infuse for 24 hours. After that, carefully strain the infusion with gauze, heat to a temperature of 37 - 38 degrees and add 2 tablespoons of honey. Douching should be done twice a day - in the morning and before bed.
Preventive maintenance of a clamidiosis during pregnancy
We must not forget about the prevention of chlamydia. In principle, the prevention is very simple, but it is still worth saying a few words about it:
- Observance of personal hygiene
"Cleanliness is the key to health."This simple truth is known to everyone from the cradle. And yet, very often this truth is neglected. Do not forget to wash your hands regularly, especially after visiting the toilet. And by the way - in public toilets do not forget to use disposable toilet seats.
- Personal hygiene items
Never and under no circumstances use other people's towels, washcloths, bed linen. And don't give yours either. Even to people you know well and trust completely.
- Protected sexual intercourse
Don't forget about the need to usecondoms during sex if you do not have a 100% guarantee of your partner's health. Please note that no other means of protection against chlamydia will protect you. And finally, it is worth repeating once again - do not ignore timely visits to the gynecologist, take all tests and undergo all examinations. And then no chlamydia will be able to spoil the happiest months of your life - the months of waiting to meet your baby. We advise you to read:
