The answer

Chickenpox can be risky during pregnancy, to both mother and unborn child. Pneumonia is more likely to affect women who get the illness while pregnant, with those who are more than 20 weeks into their confinement, have a lung condition such as bronchitis, are taking or have recently taken steroids, or who smoke, at higher risk.

For the baby, if chickenpox is contracted before 28 weeks of pregnancy there is a chance of foetal varicella syndrome developing, which can lead to complications such as shortened limbs, eye defects, brain damage and problems with the bowel and bladder.

If caught between 28 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, the herpes zoster virus that causes chickenpox can enter the baby’s body and, although it doesn’t cause any problems initially, it may become reactivated during the first few years of life resulting in shingles. If chickenpox is contracted during the last few weeks of pregnancy, the baby may be born with the illness.

Although few women get chickenpox while pregnant – mainly because most people have suffered the illness as a child – and most recover without any problems, Hannah needs to know the risks involved.