I have Fifth Disease (Parvovirus) - 16.5 wks PG

[tuscany123]

It's not official - but my Dr is 95% certain I had it this past week. I came down with the classic slapped cheek rash, and have an achy ankle and knee joint. The blood work won't be back for a few days, but I am 16.5 weeks along. My Dr says he's not terribly worried, and I shouldn't be, but I read that before 20 weeks this is a bad thing to have! When we know for sure what the blood work says, we'll go from there. Meanwhile, can anyone share with me any personal experiences about this thing? I am more worried than I want to admid - thank you.

[JessicaE]

I had a student earlier this year who had Fifth Disease in her second trimester. They got the same story you did, that their birth team was not too worried. They had frequent ultrasounds throughout the rest of her pregnancy to check something... I'm sorry I can't remember, but I think it was something with the blood flow through the baby's brain. Their practice did give them a little pressure to induce by 39w, but they held out and delivered naturally on her due date. Mom and baby were both A-OK, no ill effects from the Fifth Disease.

I'm sorry you have to worry about this! I did a little research at the time (since theoretically, my entire class could have been exposed), and it seems the risks after the first trimester are quite small.

Best wishes!

[GatorNNP]

I have seen a very preemie have decreased immune fighting cells (severe neutropenia) when the mother had it and delivered after spontaneous rupture at 27 ish weeks. If you go to term then there are less chances of it have crossed. My fetal medicine book suggests 1 in 5 fetus will get the disease. There is a 1 or 2% higher chance of miscarriage, but generally they go to term. Fetal anemia seems to be the biggest problem in a fetus who gets the disease before 20 week. So, you may want to consider an ultrasound around the 2-3rd trimester to check for signs of severe anemia in the fetus, although it is rare about 1 out of 186 infected infants. You can also be tested for the antibody to be sure that is what it was.

[tuscany123]

Thank you both for your replies. I am getting blood results back sometime this week, so we'll know more then. My Dr said they'll do more frequent ultrasounds, and we'll go from there.

[memiles]

I had a confirmed case of Fifth's at 20 weeks. My no-ultrasound pregnancy went out the window, but I went on to have a healthy homebirth baby after SROM at 37 weeks.

I'm not sure how that would have been different with MD care, but my midwife was confident that with good monitoring, homebirth was a very safe option.

[katiecnm]

Check out www.fifthdisease.org for lots of good information. It's an organization started by a couple that had a miscarriage after the mother got fifth disease. I think that's pretty rare, but you might want to consider serial ultrasounds to track how the baby is doing.

The first thing you need to find out is if you had an acute first infection, or whether you have antibodies from a previous infection. It can be a pretty mild illness, so it's possible that you might have had it in the past and didn't know it.

I just had a client who had her very normal baby after contracting fifth disease at about the same gestation that you are. It was pretty scary for a few weeks, but everything worked out.

Best wishes to you and your little baby,