 Hey, everybody, Dr. O. In this video, I want to talk about what are called torch infections. I want to talk about organisms that are pathogens that are able to cross what's known as the blood placental barrier and actually cause problems in the developing fetus and the womb. So maybe you've heard of the blood-brain barrier, which tries to isolate the brain and your spinal cord from the rest of your body, especially if you're done with pathogens. The placenta tries to do the same thing, but there are some organisms that are capable of crossing this blood placenta barrier, and most of them are classified as these torch infections. So first, you see the T there. We have toxoplasmosis. This is the reason that pregnant women are supposed to avoid kitty litter, because toxoplasma gondii, this protozoal infection, can be found in cat feces. So next for the O, you've got just a collection of different ones, so syphilis, chicken pox, hepatitis B, HIV, and lastly you have fifth disease, which maybe you've never heard of, erythema infectiosum. It's a rash that generally happens on the cheeks, it almost looks like you've been slapped. It is very common, still hundreds of thousands of infections, but just the strange thing is where the name came from. It's actually called fifth disease because there was a historical list of common skin rashes in children, and it was the fifth one on the list. So I don't know what third disease is, but for some reason that's why it's called fifth disease. The R is rubella, or German measles. This one's very important because it can lead to, sorry, my phone's ringing. It can lead to CRS or congenital rubella syndrome. I know several people that are deaf or hearing impaired because of this can lead to cataracts, heart problems, and then problems in the brain as well. So that's why rubella or German measles is such an important disease to avoid while you're pregnant. The C in torch is cytomegalovirus, so cytomegalovirus doesn't generally cause too many problems, but if you're pregnant, you are immunosuppressed. You don't think about that much, but you are immunocompromised while you're pregnant, and that's because you're growing an organism. Your child inside of you, that's only half of you. So if you had a super robust immune system while you were pregnant, it might recognize it as kind of a foreign invader, and that would be a pretty serious problem. That's also why though, I have autoimmune diseases, so I know that many people, their autoimmune diseases will actually improve while they're pregnant because of the kind of immunosuppressive nature of being pregnant. Then the H in torch would be herpes, so you've got herpes, simplex, viruses one and two, which can affect the mouth and the genitals. So these are examples of torch infections. I do want to add one to this list, and that is listeria. So listeriosis is caused by listeria, monocytogenes, so this is an organism that also can affect the fetus, can lead to spontaneous abortion, and I've mentioned this in another video, but this is the reason that women are supposed to avoid deli meats and some foods that could be contaminated with listeria. So that's another example of an organism that would potentially cause problems to your baby. All right, so those are organisms that are capable of causing disease and being spread through the placenta, torch infections. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.