Low Birth Weight and Maternal Virus Diseases

Abstract

A prospective study on maternal virus diseases occurring from 1957 through 1964 disclosed an increase in frequency of prematurity following hepatitis, measles, and rubella. The occurrence of low birth weight was largely related to retarded intrauterine growth following rubella, and to premature onset of labor in hepatitis and measles. Data for mumps and chickenpox in mothers revealed no association with prematurity. There appeared to be no significant difference in the virulence of rubella virus prevalent in epidemic and nonepidemic years as determined by the frequency of low birth weight. These results agree with those previously reported for fetal deaths in the same affected population. In a study of maternal virus diseases, an interrelationship between prematurity and other fetal effects of maternal infection, such as fetal death and congenital defects, was found.