Whether firsthand or secondhand smoke, pregnant women serve their babies well by keeping away from it. During pregnancy, you and your baby are both vulnerable to infection, so avoid risk and skip the soft cheese. Toxoplasmosis can also be transmitted to a fetus through the placenta, but the fetus is presumed to be at risk only if the mother has a primary, active infection during the pregnancy. CDC estimates there are between one and three congenital Toxoplasma infections per 1,000 live births in the United States each year. Of those who have no symptoms at birth, up to 85 percent may develop chronic recurring eye disease and learning disabilities.
Toxoplasmosis can also cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and pre-term birth.
In 1990, FDA issued an advisory to state and local regulatory agencies recommending that fish served raw, marinated, or partially cooked be blast-frozen. However, pregnant women should not eat raw fin fish or shellfish because, although freezing kills most parasites, it does not kill bacteria. It takes from one to six weeks for a serious case of listeriosis to develop, although flu-like symptoms may occur 12 hours after eating contaminated food. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt your baby's growth, and your baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life. Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.