Diseases that hit women and newborns

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 28 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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A top federal health official in the USA said that the country needs better information programs to control the vast array of infectious diseases that women and newborns are prone to and suffer from. She also said new diagnostic kits are needed.

Women seem to suffer from STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and some other infections more than men do, disproportionately more. Many of these diseases can seriously harm the woman and her baby during pregnancy.

This is according to Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

There are many factors that contribute to this difference in susceptibility between men and women. Some are cultural, some economic and others are social.

According to Dr. Gerberding, even though women see doctors more often than men, they are making these visits on behalf of other members of their families, rather than themselves. Women tend to leave their own problems until last.

Another factor is lack of scientific knowledge, or not using the knowledge they have to the full.

Dr. Gerberding talked in a conference sponsored and organised by the WHO and the American Society for Microbiology.

She said 'Women disproportionately suffer the burden of poverty, are the victims of widespread and persistent discrimination in all areas of life and put their lives at risk every time they become pregnant.'

Of main concern, she said, is that there are specific diseases which can cause serious complications to the pregnant woman and her baby. Women are also four times more likely to be infected from HIV and other STDs than men. This is not due to lifestyle, it is due to vulnerability (susceptibility).

Take the example of gonorrhea. Up to 70% of women who have it are not aware of it. When they do find out, the disease has already developed a great deal. The delayed treatment often leads to chronic pain, stillborn babies, infertility and in many cases death.

She said that most STDs can be passed on to the unborn child and infant (very young baby).

Women account for 58% of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa.

HIV is growing among the female population of the USA. In the year 2001, 35% of new HIV cases were women, before 2001 the figure was 28%.

Teenage girls in Africa are 5-16 times more likely to have HIV than boys of the same age. Women in their early 20s are 3 times more likely than teenage boys to have HIV.

Another infection is Hepatitis E, which is a virus that attacks the liver. Hepatitis E can be a fatal infection. It is especially dangerous during the last three months of a woman's pregnancy. There is no vaccine to protect against Hepatitis E. When it develops there is no real way of treating it effectively.

Hepatitis E is common in Mexico, Africa and parts of Asia. According to some studies, 5% of Americans have been infected.