Due to the dangers to both mother and baby of chickenpox infection during pregnancy, the Mayo Clinic recommends preventative chickenpox vaccination for all women of childbearing age who have not had chickenpox or received a vaccination before. Once pregnant, women cannot be vaccinated for chickenpox, nor can they be given anti-virals to treat it. However the Merck Manual says that unvaccinated pregnant women exposed to the varicella-zoster--chickenpox--virus can be given antibodies--varicella-zoster immune globulin--to minimize the illness and the risks of serious complications.
Complications
In healthy children, chickenpox usually presents as a minor disease causing the distinctive bumps, lesions and scabs on the skin and sometimes fever and headache. However, pregnant women constitute a high-risk group for the development of the serious complications of chickenpox. Bacterial infections of the skin can develop, particularly in people who scratch the lesions. The virus can infect internal organs, particularly the lungs, brain, heart and joints. According to the Merck Manual, 1 in 400 people develop infections in the lungs that cause labored breathing. Chickenpox can lead to pneumonia and rarely, to inflammation of the brain, a condition called encephalitis. Both pneumonia and encephalitis can be fatal.
If the chickenpox rash turns very red, or feels warm and sore to the touch, a pregnant mother might have a skin infection. Symptoms of other serious complications include dizziness, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, loss of coordination and high fever over 103 F.
Birth Defects
If a woman contracts chickenpox early in her pregnancy, the baby runs an increased risk of being born prematurely and underweight. Birth defects, especially abnormalities in the formation of the arms and legs, occur more often in babies born to mothers who had chickenpox early in pregnancy, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Although the weakened virus in the varicella vaccine should theoretically cause minimal effects compared to the actual virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cautions that the effects of the chickenpox vaccine on a fetus are not known, so pregnant women should not be vaccinated, and women should avoid becoming pregnant for one month after receiving the vaccine.
Newborn Death
Newborns are also a high-risk group for the development of serious complications from infection with chickenpox. If a pregnant woman catches chickenpox in the week before or after delivering her baby, the newborn can develop a life-threatening infection. The CDC says that one third of these babies will die if they do not receive treatment quickly.
