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STIs can also have significant effects on a fetus during gestation and childbirth. For instance, syphilis can lead to congenital syphilis, resulting in stillbirth or severe neonatal complications. HIV can be transmitted to the baby during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. Herpes can cause neonatal herpes if transmitted during childbirth, which can be life-threatening.

Answer 1

Good summary — and an important topic. A few practical points you can add:

- Screening and early treatment in pregnancy are critical. Pregnant people are routinely screened for syphilis, HIV, hepatitis B and often chlamydia/gonorrhea; early detection allows treatments that greatly reduce fetal/neonatal harm.
- Syphilis: maternal treatment with parenteral penicillin during pregnancy is highly effective at preventing congenital syphilis.
- HIV: antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy, appropriate intrapartum management and infant prophylaxis after birth drastically lower transmission risk. In many settings breastfeeding is discouraged for people with untreated HIV; guidance varies by resource setting.
- Herpes (HSV): if a pregnant person has active genital lesions or prodromal symptoms at delivery, cesarean delivery is usually recommended to reduce neonatal transmission. Suppressive antiviral therapy from ~36 weeks can reduce the chance of lesions at delivery. Neonatal herpes requires urgent IV antiviral treatment.
- Other infections to note: maternal gonorrhea or chlamydia can cause ophthalmia neonatorum or neonatal pneumonia; hepatitis B can be transmitted perinatally but giving hepatitis B vaccine and HBIG to the newborn prevents most infections.
- Prevention: routine prenatal care, partner testing, condom use, vaccination where available (hepatitis B, HPV before pregnancy), and timely treatment all reduce risk.

If you’d like, I can draft a short paragraph you can use in a patient leaflet or a one-line summary for a presentation.