[Risk of intrauterine infection of the human fetus with Coxsackie viruses in pregnancy complicated by late toxicosis and pyelonephritis].

During virological examinations of 144 pregnant women including 85 women with complicated course of pregnancy Coxsackie A viruses were isolated from the blood or identified in the cells of urinary tracts in 60.3% of the cases of nephropathy, in 68.3% of the pregnant women with pyelonephritis, and in 8.5% of normal subjects. The groups of the pregnant women under comparison did not differ significantly in the rate of finding of other viruses. Coxsackie A viruses were also isolated from the placenta and amniotic fluid in 3 out of 4 cases examined in late toxicosis, were found in the kidneys of the fetus from a woman with pyelonephritis and in cells of the urinary tracts of 13 out of 19 babies (68.4%) born to women with complicated course of pregnancy. The hypothesis of the etiological association of nephropathy and pyelonephritis in pregnant women with activation of chronic Coxsackie virus infection and of the high risk of infection of the fetus with these viruses in the described complications of pregnancy is discussed.