Palo Alto, California – A new research study found that immune response to flu tends to strengthen during pregnancy.
Expectant mothers always need an urgent care near me relief or assurance every now and then, considering the fragility of their conditions. Pregnant women do not just consider their overall health, but also the wellness of their unborn child. Thus, they often visit urgent care clinics in monitoring or regulating their fetuses’ and their health conditions.
Pregnant women are believed to get sick easily, getting flu compared to non-pregnant and healthy adults. But, a new research study suggested that pregnant women’s immune response to flu tends to be stronger, fighting off influenza more efficiently than those who are not conceiving, or prior to their conception. The findings are certainly surprising for many since the majority of people thought that pregnant women’s immune responses are weakened during their pregnancy.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine. The study was considered as a one of a kind research work, analyzing the reaction of pregnant women’s immune cells to influenza viruses. Thus, the findings were published online, through the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study involved 21 expectant mothers and 29 healthy, non-pregnant women. The researchers gathered immune cells from the two groups. Thus, the participants were exposed to different flu viruses within a controlled lab environment. The immune cells of the pregnant women were likewise examined six months after their conception. The researchers studied the immune response to flu, specifically the pandemic H1N1 and H3N2.
Within the urgent care clinic of the researchers, they compared the immune cells of the two groups. They found that H1N1 caused the pregnant woman’s natural killer to produce more chemokines and cytokines. Their T cells also helped in the production of these substances, which are helpful in drawing other immune cells towards an infection site.
Doctor Catherine Blish, the senior study author said she was surprised by their discovery. She emphasized the better understanding of influenza during pregnancy is a hyperinflammatory infection instead of an immunodeficiency state. She explained that the urgent care and treatment of flu to be employed during pregnancy will be modifying the immune response rather than treating or preventing the viral replication. Pregnant women’s immune response to flu was proven to be stronger and tends to strengthen compared to non-pregnant, healthy adults.
