February 14, 2024

About Infectious Agents and Reproductive Health

Some infections can affect a man's or woman's reproductive health.
Some infections can cause more severe illness in a pregnant person.
Some infections can cross the placenta and harm a fetus.

Female healthcare provider working with a pregnant patient, both wearing PPE.

Why I should be concerned about exposure

Working with or exposure to certain bacteria, viruses, or other infectious agents can impact reproductive health.

Some infections have been associated with infertility.

Some infections can pass to a fetus during pregnancy and cause a miscarriage or birth defects.

Infections like seasonal influenza (the flu), COVID-19, and pneumonia can cause more serious illness in pregnant people.

Who is at risk

Pregnant female healthcare worker wearing a stethoscope. — Healthcare workers can be exposed to infectious agents while pregnant.

Workers who might be exposed to infectious agents include:

Healthcare workers
Veterinary medicine and veterinary service workers
Childcare workers and teachers
Tattooists and body piercers
Laboratory workers

Which infectious agents can be harmful during pregnancy?

These and other infections can pass to the fetus during pregnancy, or cause more severe illness to a pregnant person.

Vaccine-preventable infections that can cause more severe illness in a pregnant person and/or harm a fetus:

Chicken pox (varicella zoster virus)
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Hepatitis B virus (HBV)
Influenza
Rubella (German measles)
Measles

Other infections that can cause more severe illness in a pregnant person (many can also harm a fetus):

Other infections that can harm a fetus when infection occurs in pregnancy:

*Please note that a vaccine exists for Ebola virus disease but is not recommended for everyone. CDC recommends speaking to your physician before vaccinating for EBV during pregnancy.

What I can do to reduce or eliminate exposure

Make sure your vaccines are up to date

Get your seasonal flu shot. Pregnant people should get the flu shot (inactivated vaccine), not the nasal vaccine (LAIV, live attenuated nasal vaccine).

Do not get the MMR (measles mumps rubella) vaccine during pregnancy. If you are a pregnant healthcare worker who is not vaccinated and not immune, do not work with rubella-infected patients.

People who are pregnant should stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines. Studies including hundreds of thousands of people around the world show that COVID-19 vaccination before and during pregnancy is safe, effective, and beneficial to both the pregnant person and the baby.

Wash your hands often if you are around someone who is sick.

If you work in healthcare, veterinary medicine, or childcare

Follow recommended infection control guidelines carefully. Following these standard precautions will generally mean you are at no higher risk of catching a harmful infection than other workers. However, there are exceptions for some pregnant people and some infectious agents.

CDC recommends that pregnant healthcare workers should not provide care for patients with Ebola. Furthermore, the recommended PPE for care of patients with Ebola may be particularly restrictive and uncomfortable for these workers.

If you work in a laboratory

Follow safety guidelines for laboratory workers. These guidelines will help you prevent laboratory-acquired infection when followed correctly. However, pregnant lab workers should handle certain pathogens with special precaution.

For laboratory work with concentrated cultures of pathogens, refer to the Biosafety Manual for Biomedical Laboratories.

Resources

Getting help

Talk to your supervisor or occupational safety officer about infection control procedures to keep you safe. It's safe for pregnant workers to give and receive flu shots at work.

Talk to your doctor about potential hazards at work. Make sure to mention that your job exposes you to infectious agents. Your unique medical situation, vaccination history, and specific work environment should be considered when assessing ways to reduce your risk.

For some pregnant workers, standard infection control procedures are enough to keep their risk at the same level as other workers. For others, adjusting tasks to reduce exposure to certain infectious agents, adjusting personal protective equipment, or other options might be considered.

For information on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, please see resources from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) website.