A mother who catches influenza, pneumonia, or a sexually transmitted disease around the time of pregnancy is susceptible of having a child that will develop leukemia.
Dr. Marilyn L. Kwan, from the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland stated that these observations
’suggest that maternal infection might contribute to the develop of childhood leukemia, which has been postulated to have an infectious origin.’
The study was based on 365 children with childhood leukemia and 460 similar children without cancer. Information regarding maternal illnesses and drug use from before pregnancy through breastfeeding were obtained by interview with the mother.
Researchers discovered that a maternal history of influenza or pneumonia that occurred between 3 months before conception through the end of breastfeeding raised the risk of leukemia in the child as much as 89%.
A maternal history of sexually transmitted disease, such as herpes or chlamydia, had an even stronger effect on the risk of childhood leukemia.
On the contrary, women who took iron supplements around the time of pregnancy had a lesser chance of having a child with leukemia.
