The TORCH complex

The management of pregnancy includes blood tests that are carried out to understand if the mother has infectious diseases that can be transmitted to the fetus.

The term “torch complex” (English acronym for toxoplasmosis, others, rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes) means a battery of analyzes that specifically concerns:

TOXOPLASMOSIS

It is a disease caused by a parasite. If it affects a woman at the beginning or during pregnancy, it can lead to malformations of the fetus, especially of the brain type. If the woman already has antibodies at the time of pregnancy, then she is immune, the fetus is not at risk and the examination during gestation is no longer repeated. On the contrary, if the woman is not immune, has no antibodies, it is necessary to monitor with periodic checks during pregnancy.

It is a disease that does not require vaccination.

RUBELLA

It is a viral disease that mainly affects children, and for which vaccination is planned. If contracted during pregnancy, it can lead to various complications, ranging from spontaneous abortion to various types of malformations

(cataracts, brain and heart abnormalities), the severity of which is greater the earlier the pregnancy period.

CITOMEGALOVIRUS

It is a very widespread virus, usually not particularly pathogenic. More than half of adult women are immune. There is no vaccination. In rare cases it can lead to fetal malformations.

GENITAL HERPES

It is a virus that causes lesions (blisters / ulcers) in the genital area. If in silent form, without injury, this is not a problem. If vesicles and / or genital ulcers, which contain the virus, are present at the time of delivery, then a caesarean section must be performed to avoid viral transmission to the baby. In the newborn, genital herpes can cause various problems, from trivial mucositis

(inflammation of the mouth or eyes) to central nervous system infections with seizures.

OTHERS (OTHER DISEASES TRANSMITTED FROM MOTHER TO FETUS)

Classically we mean Hiv, hepatitis C, hepatitis B.

These are diseases that are transmitted such as Genital Herpes especially during childbirth, when the fetus passes through the birth canal. For hepatitis B the vaccine is foreseen (compulsory for those born after 1988). There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, as well as for HIV. In the latter case, if the woman is positive, pharmacological prophylaxis with an antiviral drug that prevents maternal-fetal transmission is envisaged before delivery.

The evaluation of the TORCH complex is foreseen as a pre-conceptional examination, with a specific exemption, therefore free of charge, precisely because of the importance of the prevention of these pathologies and the safeguarding of pregnancy and the fetus.