Table 1.

Effects of poor maternal health on childhood immunity

Maternal complication	Impact on mother	Outcome for child
HIV infection	In utero inflammation Weight loss Poor T-cell help for B-cell antibody production	Skewed/activated T cells Low birthweight Thymic atrophy Poor placental immunity
Placental Malaria	Placental inflammation Transplacental passage of soluble Plasmodium falciparum	Low birthweight Thymic atrophy, Deceased antibody transfer Th2 skew, with decreased interferon-γ and increased interleukin-10 CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ T reg
Maternal malnutrition	Weight loss Gestational zinc deficiency	Reduced breast milk Low birthweight Thymic atrophy Reduced transfer of maternal IgM, IgG

Th2, T helper type 2; Treg, regulatory T.