ABSTRACT
The concept of adult immunization in general and maternal immunization specifically has been receiving an increased attention from clinicians and medical writers as new vaccines have come into the market. The benefit of vaccination in pregnancy is to protect (i) the mother from disease and (ii) the neonate from disease with passive maternal antibodies. Active immunization is the administration of an antigen, which may be a live attenuated organism, inactivated viruses, recombinant viral particles, purified proteins, bacterial capsular polysaccharides, or exotoxin derivatives (toxoids) with the projected effect of preventing, abbreviating, or ameliorating natural infection. An immunization history should be obtained at the first prenatal visit. In an ideal world, the patient should be immune to measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, poliomyelitis, varicella, and hepatitis A and B. Influenza is an acute febrile illness associated with headaches, migraines, upper airway respiratory complaints, and gastrointestinal symptoms.
