Re:I think I have food poisoning in my 2nd trimester, is my baby in danger?
Food poisoning involves a range of diseases, from Staphylococcal food poisoning, Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli food poisoning. There can even be viral food poisonings. The more serious food poisonings are E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella. They cause severe diarrhea, some vomiting and can cause severe dehydration. While the organism itself will often remain in the gut and not directly affect the baby, dehydration and fever can be harmful to the pregnancy at any point in the pregnancy but certainly in the first trimester when fetal development is at its greatest.
Another time when it is not a good idea to have food poisoning is around the time of delivery when there can be contamination of the bacteria with the fetus as it is being born. Technically, the baby can become ill as a result of fecal contamination and may need antibiotic intervention.
Food poisoning, fortunately, does not generally pass through the placenta and the fetus is relatively protected from getting food poisoning in utero. In most cases, food poisoning is self limited and lasts less than a week. Fetuses are very resilient and, once the dehydration is managed, the fetus tends to do very well after a bout with food poisoning.
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