At the beginning of pregnancy, your family doctor will test you for sexuallytransmitted infections (STIs) that could hurt you or your baby. These testsare very important.
What tests will I have?
At the first visit, your family doctor may do a Pap smear to check forcervical cancer and signs of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Yourfamily doctor may also test for chlamydia (kluh-MID-ee- uh) and gonorrhea(gah-nuh-REE- uh). These tests may be repeated near the end of yourpregnancy.
Your blood will be tested for syphilis (SIFF-uh-liss) , hepatitis B, and HIV(the virus that causes AIDS). The family doctor will check your skin forsigns of herpes.
Why do I need these tests?
You can have many of these infections without having symptoms. Theseinfections can be passed on to your baby, and some of them can cause you togo into labor early.
What if I have an infection?
Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis can be treated with antibiotics.Medicines can help keep your baby from getting herpes and HIV viruses. Ifyou have hepatitis B, your baby can be given medicine at birth to keep himor her from getting the disease.
Your sex partner may also need to be treated for some infections (forexample, chlamydia and gonorrhea) so you don't get the infection back. Youshould not have sex with your partner until your partner has been treated, too.
How can I protect myself?
The safest way is to have only one sex partner, and for your partner not tohave sex with anyone else. Condoms give you some protection. You shouldalways use condoms if you have more than one partner or if your partner mayhave other partners. [AAFP]
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