"Flu" in pregnancy 'may raise bipolar risk for baby

Flu during pregnancy may increase the risk of the unborn child developing bipolar disorder later in life, research suggests.

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A study of 814 expectant girls, printed in JAMA medicine, showed that infection created bipolar fourfold additional probably.

The overall risk remained low, however it echoes similar findings linking contagious disease and schizophrenic disorder.Experts aforesaid the risks were tiny and ladies mustn\'t worry.Bipolar results in intense mood swings, which may last months, starting from depression and despair to wild feelings of joy, body process and loss of inhibitions.Researchers at the Columbia heart known a link between the condition, usually diagnosed throughout late teens and twenties, and experiences within the uterus.In their study gazing individuals born within the early Sixties, emotional disturbance was nearly fourfold as common in individuals whose mothers caught contagious disease throughout gestation.The condition affects concerning one in one hundred individuals. The lead research worker, professor Alan Brown, calculable that flu infection throughout gestation may lead to a 3-4% probability of emotional disturbance within the ensuing kids.However, within the overwhelming majority of cases of emotional disturbance there would no history of contagious disease.Seasonal vaccinationSo within the list of things pregnant girls need to worry concerning, however high ought to it rank?\"I would not say

high,\" professor Alan Brown told the BBC.\"The likelihood is that still quite tiny. i do not suppose it ought to raise alarms for mothers.\"He aforesaid seasonal contagious disease vaccination, that is suggested for pregnant girls in several countries, would cut back the possibilities of catching contagious disease.Similar studies have shown a link between contagious disease and schizophrenic disorder

How contagious disease may have an effect on the craniate brain has not been fully explained.Influenza isn\'t thought to directly have an effect on the fetus, however the mother\'s reaction to the virus may have an effect on development.Dr Fiona Gaughran, lead adviser specialist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said: \"This extremely regarded cluster of researchers has reported  similar links between schizophrenic disorder and varied maternal infections.

\"If future work confirms the link reported  here, policymakers may have to contemplate implications for contagious disease interference pre-pregnancy, however mothers needn\'t be troubled.\"The overall risk of offspring developing emotional disturbance is low, although one did get contagious disease in gestation.\"