They Say: Pregnant? Pucker Up for a Little Extra Immunity

They say a kiss is just a kiss, that is unless you happen to be pregnant. Then a kiss could actually mean a little extra immunity for you and your baby.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a typically harmless bug in most healthy people, but it can sometimes cause birth defects in babies whose mothers catch it during their pregnancies. A recent theory suggests that when a woman kisses her partner regularly for six months, he passes CMV on to her through his saliva, gradually inoculating her against the disease so that she can’t catch it and pass it on to her child.

Dr. Colin Henrie, who published the report in the journal Medical Hypotheses told the Telegraph:

“Female inoculation with a specific male’s cytomegalovirus is most efficiently achieved through mouth-to-mouth contact and saliva exchange, particularly where the flow of saliva is from the male to the typically shorter female.”

Mmmm. Romantic, isn’t it?

Henrie theorizes that kissing isn’t romantic at all, but instead a way for partners to biologically size each other up to see if they’re a good genetic fit. Of course, if you’re pregnant, you’ve already mixed your DNA with his, so you might as well look as that nightly smooch session as a fun way to bond with your partner.

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Tags: birth defects, cmv, immunity, kissing, pregnancy, they say, virus