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Prenatal Stress, Depression, And Herpes Viral Titers, Pao-Chu Hsu
Prenatal Stress, Depression, And Herpes Viral Titers, Pao-Chu Hsu
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Recent studies suggest that some cases of prenatal depression may be associated with reactivation of latent infections of the herpesvirus family. The possible relationships among stress, prenatal depression, and herpes viral reactivation in pregnancy are understudied and the molecular pathways such as the neuroimmune biogenic amine pathway are unidentified. Chronic stress shifts the T helper-1 cell (Th1) cytokine profile to a Th2 profile, which favors virus induced pathogenesis and survival. Pregnancy is also associated with a similar Th2 dominance. In non-pregnant individuals, exposure to psychological or physical stress may be associated with latent herpes viral reactivation and could result in …