Abstract
Infection during pregnancy is common and the developing fetal brain is vulnerable
to vertical transmission due to immaturity of the fetal immune system. Infection is
a major cause of multiple organ abnormalities, including the neuraxis, due to the
neurotropism of the infectious agents. This review sets out to give an overview of
fetal infection, review the general principles of the nature and timing of the infectious
insult with respect to outcomes, review the neuroimaging of infection by ultrasound
and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and review the various pathogens involved, including
the two most common, cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Toxoplasma, and also other common viral and nonviral infections.
Keywords
Toxoplasma
- cytomegalovirus - sensorineural hearing loss - human herpes virus - herpes simplex
virus - fetal MRI - congenital zika virus - pseudo-TORCH