Nausea and vomiting experienced during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy may be symptoms of the flu, according a study published in the May edition of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
A team of researchers led by Vanessa Rogers, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, studied influenza cases of 107 pregnant women during the 2003-2004 flu season who were treated at the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
From the collected data, the researchers learned that 93 percent of the patients had a cough, 89 percent suffered from a fever and 60 percent experienced nausea and vomiting. The investigators that reported that vomiting and nausea are both unusual symptoms of the flu, but allowed the women to be treated sooner because they were the symptoms were very noticeable, and vomiting and nausea are more common in children with the flu.
The team also discovered that about two-thirds of the 107 patients needed to be hospitalized because of
Doctors found no difference in labor complications in women who had the flu and those who did not during this particular influenza season.
Rogers stated that “people dont necessarily think of influenza when you include symptoms of nausea or vomiting, but our study showed that they are common with influenza in pregnancy.” She added that “early diagnosis and treatment might be the reason our patients did so well.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnant women are listed second of those who should receive the flu vaccine every year.