[Update on maternal-fetal infections by hepatitis C, HIV and cytomegalovirus]

Abstract

Maternal infections with hepatitis C virus, human cutomegalovirus and HIV and their management problems continue to raise concern in obstetrics. What should we recommend to decrease the incidence of hepatitis C virus congenital infection? We know that congenital human cytomegalovirus infection can lead to major neurological disease with sensorineuronal loss. The current lack of trusted prognostic elements to predict impact on the infected fetus makes any prenatal diagnosis questionable. Should we thus track the initial maternal antibody status and the newborn infection? For the last 10 years, HIV mother-to-infant transmission has decreased from 25% to less than 3%. The new problem is how to answer the more and more frequent request for pregnancy from an infected woman. The treatment must be adapted to the pregnancy in order to reduce the risks for the mother and the infant. All these questions emphasize the problems of viral infection which will require answers in the years to come.