Irish Wedding News
23/09/2014
It is thought this is because a mother-to-be's immune system goes into overdrive to try and fight the virus. It has previously been claimed that a woman's immune responses are weakened during pregnancy so that her body does not reject her foetus, but this latest research has specifically looked at the reaction of immune cells from pregnant women to the influenza virus.
The report, which has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, saw experts take immune cells from 21 pregnant women, and 29 non-pregnant, healthy women, as well as cells from women who had given birth six weeks previously. The cells were exposed to a number of flu viruses and it was discovered that pregnancy improved the immune system's response to swine flu by affecting two types of white blood cell, natural killer (NK) and T-cells.
When the results were compared with those from the non-pregnant women, both cell types produced larger amounts of cytokines and chemokines; these are molecules that help attract other immune cells to the site of an infection.
The study also found that the strains of flu also caused NK and T cells to become activated in more ways in pregnant women as opposed to those who were not expecting a child.
As a result, those behind the research said the findings could help develop new treatment for pregnant mothers who catch the flu.
Dr Catherine Blish, researcher and assistant professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University in the US, commented: "We now understand that severe influenza in pregnancy is a hyperinflammatory disease rather than a state of immunodeficiency. This means that treatment of flu in pregnancy might have more to do with modulating the immune response than worrying about viral replication."
Professor Blish said she suspected 'this is peculiar to influenza' as having the virus during pregnancy quadruples a woman's risk for delivering her baby prematurely.
She added: "I wonder if this is an inflammatory pathway that is normally activated later in pregnancy to prepare the body for birth, but that flu happens to overlap with the pathway and aberrantly activates it too early."
It is understood that further studies will now take place to see if a pregnant women's immune response would be similar with other viruses.
(JP/CD)
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Pregnant Women 'Worst Hit' By The Flu
A new study has found that pregnant mothers are more likely to suffer from a severe strain of flu, compared to other groups.It is thought this is because a mother-to-be's immune system goes into overdrive to try and fight the virus. It has previously been claimed that a woman's immune responses are weakened during pregnancy so that her body does not reject her foetus, but this latest research has specifically looked at the reaction of immune cells from pregnant women to the influenza virus.
The report, which has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, saw experts take immune cells from 21 pregnant women, and 29 non-pregnant, healthy women, as well as cells from women who had given birth six weeks previously. The cells were exposed to a number of flu viruses and it was discovered that pregnancy improved the immune system's response to swine flu by affecting two types of white blood cell, natural killer (NK) and T-cells.
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When the results were compared with those from the non-pregnant women, both cell types produced larger amounts of cytokines and chemokines; these are molecules that help attract other immune cells to the site of an infection.
The study also found that the strains of flu also caused NK and T cells to become activated in more ways in pregnant women as opposed to those who were not expecting a child.
As a result, those behind the research said the findings could help develop new treatment for pregnant mothers who catch the flu.
Dr Catherine Blish, researcher and assistant professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University in the US, commented: "We now understand that severe influenza in pregnancy is a hyperinflammatory disease rather than a state of immunodeficiency. This means that treatment of flu in pregnancy might have more to do with modulating the immune response than worrying about viral replication."
Professor Blish said she suspected 'this is peculiar to influenza' as having the virus during pregnancy quadruples a woman's risk for delivering her baby prematurely.
She added: "I wonder if this is an inflammatory pathway that is normally activated later in pregnancy to prepare the body for birth, but that flu happens to overlap with the pathway and aberrantly activates it too early."
It is understood that further studies will now take place to see if a pregnant women's immune response would be similar with other viruses.
(JP/CD)
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