Pregnancy: what you need to know

Before becoming pregnant, it is necessary to have tests that help your doctor rule out factors that may negatively affect your baby’s development:

1. Complete blood count (to check whether the future mother has anemia).
2. Blood sugar test (to rule out the early stage of diabetes).
3. Determination of blood group and Rh factor. (If the mother is Rh (-) and the father is Rh (+), additional tests will be carried out during pregnancy for early detection of Rh incompatibility. Then, at 28 weeks (at the doctor’s discretion) and after childbirth (mandatory), injections preventing Rh conflict will be given. See the article on Rh conflict.)
4. Thyroid hormones: TSH, sT3, sT4. (For example, reduced thyroid function may lead to delayed brain development in the fetus.)
5. Tests for sexually transmitted infections: HIV, syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, chlamydia, mycoplasma, ureaplasma. (Sexually transmitted infections negatively affect pregnancy and may cause infertility, miscarriage, or early rupture of the membranes.)
6. TORCH infections.

TORCH is an acronym formed from the initial letters of a number of chronic infections that can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to the fetus and have similar negative effects on the fetus (microcephaly, chorioretinitis, hepatosplenomegaly, thrombocytopenia, deafness):

T – Toxoplasmosis

O – Others: These include infections such as syphilis, Varicella Zoster, Coxsackie, and measles.

R – Rubella

C – Cytomegalovirus

H – Herpes

Many doctors consider TORCH screening before pregnancy to be optional. First, recommendations differ from country to country regarding which of these infections must be tested for and which do not (depending on how common the disease is in the region). Second, most of these infections are dangerous to the fetus only if a woman becomes infected with them during pregnancy, so, according to this view, testing is needed during pregnancy rather than before it. However, if a woman has previously had, for example, toxoplasmosis, there is no need to repeat the tests or fear becoming infected again.

In addition, if there is no immunity to rubella, for example, vaccination can be given, after which contraception is necessary for 3 months. In the Republic of Turkey, the mandatory infection tests include HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Toxoplasmosis, Cytomegalovirus, and Rubella. Therefore, the best approach is to trust your doctor’s decision on whether these tests are necessary before pregnancy.