Although the cause is still unknown with certainty, certain infections suffered during pregnancy such as Cystitis, pyelonephritis, or vaginal infections are associated with an increased risk of the child suffering from epilepsy in the childhood.
This would be due to an abnormal development of the fetal brain, possibly caused by the cytokines produced by the immune system during the course of maternal infection.
A study by researchers from the University of Aarhus in Denmark, published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has reached these conclusions.
This investigation has been carried out studying 90,600 children born between September 1997 and June 2003. Dr. Yuelian Sun and his team identified 646 children diagnosed with epilepsy in the following 8 years. The mother's diseases analyzed were cystitis, pyelonephritis, diarrhea, cough that lasted more than a week and vaginal candidiasis, and all of them appear related to an increased risk of epilepsy in the newborn.
Other disorders suffered during pregnancy, such as genital herpes, scallop diseases and herpes in general, were excluded from the increased risk.
There is a hopeful message in this study, since it could be that the risk of epilepsy was determined by the infection itself or with its consequences, such as a change in diet or poor hydration, so its treatment would be possible. More research will be needed to continue studying these risk factors and their possible prevention and treatment.
