Viral rashes in pregnancy – HPA guidelines, information and advice

The guide provides guidance, information and advice for health professionals on the management of women who become infected with, or are exposed to, a communicable disease during pregnancy.

Guidance on viral rash in pregnancy

This document updates and consolidates previous guidance, specifically the 2000 report of the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS - now the Health Protection Agency) Working Group.

A specialist HPA Working Group was established to review all currently available scientific evidence and consult with experts where required. The revised guidelines were published in January 2011  and aim to help decision making in the investigation and management of pregnant women who have 'a rash compatible with a systemic viral illness', or who have had contact with a person with such an illness. It addresses particularly measles, rubella, parvovirus B19, and chickenpox infection, but considers other infective causes of viral rash illness in the UK. It gives the magnitude and degrees of risk to the fetus in terms of outcomes for the gestation at which maternal infection occurs.