One of the fetuses showed distinct signs
of congenital variola, although the mother and other fetus were
free from any symptoms of the disease. In 1853 Charcot reported
the birth of a premature fetus presenting numerous variolous
pustules together with ulcerations of the derm and mucous
membranes and stomach, although the mother had convalesced of the
disease some time before. Mitchell describes a case of small-pox
occurring three days after birth, the mother not having had the
disease since childhood. Shertzer relates an instance of
confluent small-pox in the eighth month of pregnancy. The child
was born with the disease, and both mother and babe recovered.
Among many others offering evidence of variola in utero are
Degner, Derham, John Hunter, Blot, Bulkley, Welch, Wright, Digk,
Forbes, Marinus, and Bouteiller.
Varicella, Measles, Pneumonia, and even Malaria are reported as
having been transmitted to the child in utero. Hubbard attended a
woman on March 17, 1878, in her seventh accouchement. The child
showed the rash of varicella twenty-four hours after birth, and
passed through the regular coarse of chicken-pox of ten days'
duration. The mother had no signs of the disease, but the
children all about her were infected.
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