Vertically transmitted infection
infection caused by pathogens that use mother-to-child transmission
A vertically transmitted infection is an infection caused by pathogenic bacteria or viruses that use mother-to-child transmission, that is, transmission directly from the mother to an embryo, fetus, or baby during pregnancy or childbirth. It can occur when the mother has a pre-existing disease or becomes infected during pregnancy. Nutritional deficiencies may exacerbate the risks of perinatal infections. Vertical transmission is important for the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, especially for diseases of animals with large litter sizes, as it causes a wave of new infectious individuals.
Types of infections
Bacteria, viruses, and other organisms can be passed from mother to child. Several vertically transmitted infections are included in the TORCH complex:
T – toxoplasmosis from Toxoplasma gondii
O – other infections (see below)
R – rubella
C – cytomegalovirus
H – herpes simplex virus-2 or neonatal herpes simplex
Other infections include:
Parvovirus B19, small DNA virus from the family Parvoviridae. Causes disease in the pediatric population, although it also affects adults. It is the classic cause of the childhood rash called fifth disease or erythema infectiosum, or "slapped face syndrome".
Coxsackievirus, RNA virus belonging to the family Picornaviridae. It is one of the most common and important human pathogens, transmitted by the fecal–oral route.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Vertically transmitted infection” as infection caused by pathogens that use mother-to-child transmission. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4113827. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vertically transmitted infection” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.