[The prevention of congenital damage: the infectious aspects]

During the intrauterine life or at birth, the product of conception is exposed to a lot of different and mostly still unknown risk factors among which the infective agents take on great importance owing to the proportion of the problem and to the fact that most of them can be avoided. Depending on the cases, for the baby welfare, measures of primary or secondary prevention are enforced; they are mainly based on serologic tests to the mother. After recalling the frequency and the effects of connatal injury of each infective pathology, the Authors examine the ways of infection of the coming or newborn baby according to the period of growth subsequently, the ways of avoiding the infection and the preventive treatments available or under study are examined.