HPV type 18 in pregnancy
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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It is difficult to say how the presence of the virus in the body is dangerous for every particular woman. The viruses of the low-coagulation type more actively multiply and affect more people, but our immune system is quite capable of fighting them, so for a couple of years there are no viable virions left in the body.
The percentage of people infected with highly co-genic types of the virus is significantly less. But to defeat HPV 18 or HPV 16 is not so simple, so they can parasitize in the body for years, especially if the human immune system is significantly weakened. No wonder the statistics say that these types of viruses are found in the majority of patients with HIV infection. The virus is always easier to penetrate into a weakened organism and settle down there, parasitizing inside cells and changing their properties. And strong immunity, on the contrary, will restrain the reproduction of the virus.
It is not easy to judge how dangerous the human papilloma virus is for a woman who dreams of becoming the mother of her own child. On the one hand, hormonal perestroika during pregnancy somewhat weakens the woman's immunity, and it becomes easier for pathogens to penetrate into her body. But on the other hand, the fetus does not threaten anything in the womb. Infection is possible only during childbirth, when the child has to move along the birth canal, where the infection nests.
The greatest danger in terms of infection is genital warts and anogenital warts caused by HPV 6 and 11. For highly ionogenic types of papillomavirus, appearance of flat warts on the walls of the uterus and vagina is more typical. Such neoplasms are usually few and they are less contagious, so infecting a child with dangerous strains of HPV during childbirth happens rarely, and with a low-coagulated organism the baby most often copes independently.
There is also no relationship between HPV and problems with conception of the baby. The presence in the body of low-colonic strains is not considered an obstacle to pregnancy. The only thing that a future mother may face is the appearance of external signs of infection (papillomas), if before the disease was in a latent form and the virions were inactive, or the growth of tumors in size and quantity, if previously external signs had already been seen. But the increase in genital warts and warts in size represents a certain discomfort to the woman herself, and they are recommended to be removed in any case.
Another thing is if the increase in genital warts occurs with the introduction of HPV 16 or 18 type. In this case, against the background of hormonal imbalance and a decrease in immunity, it is possible not only to increase neoplasms, but also their degeneration into a malignant tumor. True, this usually takes several years, and it is unlikely that such a terrible event will happen in the 9 months of pregnancy (unless the virus is present in the organism of the future mother and has been active for more than one year).
If doctors identify a highly co-genic virus when planning a pregnancy, then do not recommend hurrying with conception. HPV 16 or 18 does not affect the development and health of the baby in the womb, does not increase the risk of early natural termination of pregnancy, does not prevent conception, but the weakening of immune protection during pregnancy is a danger to the woman herself. In this case, you must first be treated, and if the results of treatment the doctor considers sufficient, think about the heirs.
When high-coenotic HPV is detected already during pregnancy, a woman should be under constant monitoring by a doctor, and will have to take immunostimulating drugs that will slow the spread of the infection.
The fact that the risk of infection of a baby with papillomavirus infection during pregnancy is low, and the virus itself does not affect the possibility of conception of the child, suggests that it is not necessary to refuse the opportunity to become a mother in this case. But it is necessary to be examined for the detection of HPV strains, at least in order to reduce the risk for themselves and their offspring. The health of the mother and the baby depends on this.
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