ABSTRACT
OVERVIEW Pregnant women may come into contact with a range of viral illnesses that commonly aff ect children. Th e midwife requires good knowledge of the presentation and implications of these illnesses to facilitate eff ective health education, make an accurate assessment, document relevant details and refer women exposed to viral rash illnesses. It is particularly important to identify those illnesses that pose a risk to the mother, fetus or neonate and for which timely intervention can improve the outcome (MacMahon 2012). Th e mother most oft en contracts the infections from her own children. Pregnant childcare workers and teachers are also at risk. Th is chapter will fi rst look at how to prevent rash illness in pregnancy, principles of assessment, documentation and referral. Public Health England, formerly the Health Protection Agency, provides detailed guidance for health professionals on the management of rash illness in pregnancy – details for accessing this are provided at the end of this chapter (HPA 2011a).
