Intrauterine or perinatally transmitted STDs can have severely debilitating effects on pregnant women, their partners, and their fetuses. All pregnant women and their sex partners should be asked about STDs, counseled about the possibility of perinatal infections, and ensured access to treatment, if needed.

Recommended Screening Tests

• All pregnant women in the United States should be tested for HIV infection as early in pregnancy as possible. Testing should be conducted after the woman is notified that she will be tested for HIV as part of the routine panel of prenatal tests, unless she declines the test (i.e., opt-out screening). For women who decline HIV testing, providers should address their objections, and where appropriate, continue to strongly encourage testing. Women who decline testing because they have had a previous negative HIV test should be informed of the importance of retesting during each pregnancy. Testing pregnant women is vital not only to maintain the health of the patient but also because interventions (i.e., antiretroviral and obstetrical) are available that can reduce perinatal transmission of HIV. Retesting in the third trimester (i.e., preferably before 36 weeks’ gestation) is recommended for women at high risk for acquiring HIV infection (i.e., women who use illicit drugs, have STDs during pregnancy, have multiple sex partners during pregnancy, or have HIV-infected partners). Rapid HIV testing should be performed on women in labor with undocumented HIV status. If a rapid HIV test result is positive, antiretroviral prophylaxis (with consent) should be administered without waiting for the results of the confirmatory test.

• A serologic test for syphilis should be performed on all pregnant women at the first prenatal visit. In populations in which use of prenatal care is not optimal, rapid plasma reagin (RPR) card test screening (and treatment, if that test is reactive) should be performed at the time a pregnancy is confirmed. Women who are at high risk for syphilis, live in areas of high syphilis morbidity, are previously untested, or have positive serology in the first trimester should be screened again early in the third trimester (28 weeks’ gestation) and at delivery. Some states require all women to be screened at delivery. Infants should not be discharged from the hospital unless the syphilis serologic status of the mother has been determined at least one time during pregnancy and preferably again at delivery. Any woman who delivers a stillborn infant should be tested for syphilis.

• All pregnant women should be routinely tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) during an early prenatal visit (e.g., first trimester) in each pregnancy, even if they have been previously vaccinated or tested. Women who were not screened prenatally, those who engage in behaviors that put them at high risk for infection (e.g., more than one sex partner in the previous 6 months, evaluation or treatment for an STD, recent or current injecting-drug use, and HBsAg-positive sex partner), and those with clinical hepatitis should be retested at the time of admission to the hospital for delivery. Women at risk for HBV infection also should be vaccinated. To avoid misinterpreting a transient positive HBsAg result during the 21 days after vaccination, HBsAg testing should be performed before the vaccination.

• All laboratories that conduct HBsAg tests should use an HBsAg test that is FDA-cleared and should perform testing according to the manufacturer’s labeling, including testing of initially reactive specimens with a licensed neutralizing confirmatory test. When pregnant women are tested for HBsAg at the time of admission for delivery, shortened testing protocols may be used, and initially reactive results should prompt expedited administration of immunoprophylaxis to infants.

• All pregnant women should be routinely tested for Chlamydia trachomatis at the first prenatal visit. Women aged <25 years and those at increased risk for chlamydia (i.e., women who have a new or more than one sex partner) also should be retested during the third trimester to prevent maternal postnatal complications and chlamydial infection in the infant. Screening during the first trimester might prevent the adverse effects of chlamydia during pregnancy, but supportive evidence for this is lacking. If screening is performed only during the first trimester, a longer period exists for acquiring infection before delivery.

• All pregnant women at risk for gonorrhea or living in an area in which the prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is high should be tested at the first prenatal visit for N. gonorrhoeae. A repeat test should be performed during the third trimester for those at continued risk.

• All pregnant women at high risk for hepatitis C infection should be tested for hepatitis C antibodies at the first prenatal visit. Women at high risk include those with a history of injecting-drug use and those with a history of blood transfusion or organ transplantion before 1992.

• Evaluation for bacterial vaginosis (BV) might be conducted during the first prenatal visit for asymptomatic patients who are at high risk for preterm labor (e.g., those who have a history of a previous preterm delivery). Evidence does not support routine testing for BV.

• A Papanicolaou (Pap) smear should be obtained at the first prenatal visit if none has been documented during the preceding year.

Other Concerns

• Women who are HBsAg positive should be reported to the local and/or state health department to ensure that they are entered into a case-management system and that timely and appropriate prophylaxis is provided for their infants. Information concerning the pregnant woman’s HBsAg status should be provided to the hospital in which delivery is planned and to the health-care provider who will care for the newborn. In addition, household and sex contacts of women who are HBsAg positive should be vaccinated.

• Women who are HBsAg positive should be provided with, or referred for, appropriate counseling and medical management. Pregnant women who are HBsAg positive pregnant women should receive information regarding hepatitis B that addresses
  
  
  • modes of transmission;
  • perinatal concerns (e.g., breastfeeding is not contraindicated);
  • prevention of HBV transmission, including the importance of postexposure prophylaxis for the newborn infant and hepatitis B vaccination for household contacts and sex partners; and
  • evaluation for and treatment of chronic HBV infection.

• No treatment is available for HCV-infected pregnant women. However, all women with HCV infection should receive appropriate counseling and supportive care as needed. No vaccine is available to prevent HCV transmission.

• In the absence of lesions during the third trimester, routine serial cultures for HSV are not indicated for women who have a history of recurrent genital herpes. Prophylactic cesarean section is not indicated for women who do not have active genital lesions at the time of delivery. In addition, insufficient evidence exists to recommend routine HSV-2 serologic screening among previously undiagnosed women during pregnancy, nor does sufficient evidence exist to recommend routine antiviral suppressive therapy late in gestation for all HSV-2 positive women.

• The presence of genital warts is not an indication for cesarean section.

• Not enough evidence exists to recommend routine screening for Trichomonas vaginalis in asymptomatic pregnant women.

For a more detailed discussion of STD testing and treatment among pregnant women and other infections not transmitted sexually, refer to the following references: Guide to Clinical Preventive Services; Guidelines for Perinatal Care; ACOG Practice Bulletin: Prophylatic Antibiotics in Labor and Delivery; ACOG Committee Opinion: Primary and Preventive Care: Periodic Assessments; Recommendations for the Prevention and Management of Chlamydia trachomatis Infections; Hepatitis B Virus: A Comprehensive Strategy for Eliminating Transmission in the United States—Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP); Mother-To-Infant Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus; Hepatitis C: Screening in Pregnancy; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Educational Bulletin: Viral Hepatitis in Pregnancy; Revised Public Health Service Recommendations for HIV Screening of Pregnant Women; Prenatal and Perinatal Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing: Expanded Recommendations; US Preventative Task Force HIV Screening Guidelines; Rapid HIV Antibody Testing During Labor and Delivery for Women of Unknown HIV Status: A Practical Guide and Model Protocol; and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Adolescents.

These sources are not entirely consistent in their recommendations. For example, the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services recommends screening of patients at high risk for chlamydia but indicates that the optimal timing for screening is uncertain. The Guidelines for Perinatal Care recommends that pregnant women at high risk for chlamydia be screened for infection during the first prenatal care visit and during the third trimester. Recommendations to screen pregnant women for STDs are based on disease severity and sequelae, prevalence in the population, costs, medicolegal considerations (e.g., state laws), and other factors. The screening recommendations in this report are broader (i.e., if followed, more women will be screened for more STDs than would be screened by following other recommendations) and are compatible with other CDC guidelines.