The surprising results of a recent study indicated that women whose urinary tracts were infected by bacteria during pregnancy were 70 percent less likely to have a stillbirth than women who did not have the infection.
Researchers evaluated 241 stillbirths and 582 controls, expecting to find that women with health problems or pregnancy complications would have the greatest risk. Results proved otherwise, leading researchers to suggest that antibodies produced to fight the urinary tract infection might also protect the fetus from infection.
However, urinary tract infections are known to restrict fetal growth, and the potential benefit of reducing stillbirth risk may not outweigh this risk.
Potential causes for unexplained stillbirths include obesity, smoking, poor education and older age in the mother. Additionally, some unexplained stillbirths might be due to an undetectable bacterial infection in the fetus.
New Scientist November 14, 2002
More and more evidence is arising to confirm that many microbes have a janitorial role in nature and that we benefit from them.
Other evidence supporting the importance of bacteria in maintaining our health can be seen in the increasingly adopted Hygiene Hypothesis.
The Hygiene Hypothesis is a rather remarkable theory and is quite contrary to the standard paradigm that all bugs are bad for us. It is one of the first inklings that traditional medicine is starting to understand the truth. Germs do not really cause the disease; our weakened immune systems, which allow germs to get out of balance, trigger a series of reactions that can cause us harm.
This hypothesis may explain why a recent study found that the concern of fever in pregnant women causing miscarriage might be unfounded. A basic fever, one due to minor bacterial or viral illness, can be an expression of the immune system working at its best.
Most of the time, illness can be traced back to one of the following:
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