Effect of maternal varicella-zoster virus infection on the outcome of pregnancy and the analysis of transplacental virus transmission.

In result of 20 pregnancies complicated by varicella 11 healthy and 6 defective offspring were born, 2 pregnancies were aborted by the physician and one pregnancy terminated by stillbirth of 3 siblings. Laboratory investigation of 16 pregnancies has shown that transplacental transfer of varicella-zoster (VZ) virus did not occur in 13 cases (81.2%). In 3 cases transplacental transmission of VZ virus was not inconsistent with the laboratory results, clinical course, and epidemiological analysis. Intrauterine VZ virus infection was suggested in one typical case of congenital varicella syndrome and in one healthy newborn according to the presence of high serum antibody levels at the time of maternal antibody decline. In the third case, VZ virus antigen was detected by indirect immunofluorescence in the foetal skin tissue after medical abortion.