Early detection of infectious diseases in adolescent pregnancy: Antenatal in public health system in Brazil-Fortaleza-CearÁ

Recognizing the pregnant teenagers as target audience of social programs and health is relatively new and represents an advancement of policies for social development. Infectious diseases and their complications in pregnant adolescents represent serious public health problem in Brazil. This study aims to measure prevalence of diagnosis for infectious diseases in pregnant teenagers who receive antenatal care offered by the public health system. A study was conducted outline on infectious diseases in pregnant adolescents enrolled in antenatal, in the period from July to September 2008, the population of pregnant teenagers aged below 19 years, residing in the urban area of Fortaleza,Ceara,Brazil. It was applied to form an open and closed question to get information about their knowledge of infectious diseases, and the creation of biological tests to detect these diseases. The analysis of results coming from simple descriptive statistics and estimates of prevalence of infectious diseases. Composite sample of 18 pregnant teenagers, range 15 to 19 years, 83.0% live with their partners. Preliminary results on the prevalence of diagnosis for infections were: 77.8% of GIg positive for herpes infection, which shows previous contact with the virus, all were negative for VIH, hepatitis B and syphilis, showed no infection to date toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus and rubella. However, there is evidence of GIg positive for toxoplasmosis (66.7%), cytomegalovirus (100%) and rubella (88.9%); pregnant shows no clinical symptoms of these diseases. It’s considered that these findings indicate a risk of congenital infections and can cause complications for the fetus. The implementation of screening in pregnant teenagers is vital for early detection of situations of vulnerability of adolescents. It should be emphasized, priority to antenatal for adolescents, the Brazilian public health system, with the aim of improving the area of reproductive health and consequently the quality of life of the pregnant teens.