Cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition that affects movement, posture, and muscle control. It happens when a baby’s developing brain is damaged or does not develop normally. This brain injury usually occurs during pregnancy, during labor and delivery, or shortly after birth. Many different factors can play a role, and one of the most important questions researchers have studied is whether infections during pregnancy are tied to cerebral palsy.
What is gestational infection?
Gestational infection means an infection that occurs while a person is pregnant. These infections can affect only the mother, only the baby, or both. Some germs pass through the placenta and reach the baby’s bloodstream. Others trigger a strong inflammatory response in the mother’s body that can indirectly affect the fetus and the placenta.
Examples of maternal infections that have been linked to a higher risk of cerebral palsy include cytomegalovirus, rubella (German measles), Zika virus, herpes, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, and some urinary tract infections, among others, according to resources on cerebral palsy causes such as https://www.sokolovelaw.com/birth-injuries/cerebral-palsy/causes/ and medical center information pages like https://www.dignityhealth.org/north-state/services/womens-services/maternity-care/fetal-conditions/cerebral-palsy.
How infection might affect a baby’s brain
Researchers do not think that all infections automatically cause cerebral palsy. Instead, they see infection as one of several risk factors that can damage the developing brain in some pregnancies.
Possible pathways include:
1. Direct infection of the fetal brain
Some germs are able to cross the placenta and infect the fetal brain itself. Infections like cytomegalovirus or toxoplasmosis can cause inflammation of brain tissue and disrupt normal brain development. This damage can leave areas of scarring or abnormal structure that later show up on MRI scans in children with cerebral palsy, as discussed in research summaries on causes of cerebral palsy and brain imaging such as https://cerebralpalsyguidance.com/2025/12/12/researchers-use-mri-to-diagnose-find-causes-of-cerebral-palsy-in-children/.
2. Inflammation and immune response
Even when the germ does not directly infect the fetus, the mother’s immune system produces inflammatory molecules to fight the infection. Those inflammatory signals can reach the placenta and fetus. Some studies suggest that this kind of inflammation may interfere with the formation of white matter and other brain structures that are critical for movement control. For example, research on maternal infections and infant brain development has explored how prenatal infections might alter early brain function, as described in scientific work like the study referenced at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apa.70420?af=R.
3. Triggering other pregnancy complications
Maternal infection can also contribute to complications that themselves raise the risk of cerebral palsy. For instance, infection is one of the known causes of preterm birth. Babies born very early have a higher chance of cerebral palsy, partly because their brains are fragile and more vulnerable to bleeding, lack of oxygen, and infection after birth. Reviews of preterm birth and cerebral palsy, such as those discussed in epidemiologic analyses like https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12767667/, consistently show a strong link between being born very early and later cerebral palsy.
What the research shows about the infection link
When scientists look at large groups of children with cerebral palsy, they find that many have one or more risk factors in their history rather than a single clear cause. Infection is one of those factors.
Medical and legal guidance sources that compile medical literature state that infections during pregnancy and infections in the newborn period can increase the chance of cerebral palsy by damaging the brain or by causing complications like lack of oxygen, bleeding, or severe jaundice. This is reflected in lists of risk factors compiled for families, such as those at https://www.sokolovelaw.com/birth-injuries/cerebral-palsy/causes/ and hospital based patient education pages like https://www.dignityhealth.org/north-state/services/womens-services/maternity-care/fetal-conditions/cerebral-palsy.
At the same time, imaging and genetics research shows that cerebral palsy has many different patterns and causes. In one MRI based study of children with cerebral palsy, only a small number had completely normal scans, while most had some type of brain injury pattern. Some of those patterns were associated with infection, but others were linked to stroke, abnormal brain development, or genetic factors. About one quarter of the children in that study had identifiable genetic contributions, showing that the condition is often the result of a mix of influences. A discussion of this kind of work appears in resources like https://cerebralpalsyguidance.com/2025/12/12/researchers-use-mri-to-diagnose-find-causes-of-cerebral-palsy-in-children/.
So, is gestational infection tied to cerebral palsy?
Putting the evidence together, gestational infection is best viewed as a significant risk factor rather than a guarantee that cerebral palsy will occur. Many people have infections during pregnancy and give birth to children without cerebral palsy. What research suggests is that when infection is severe, untreated, or combined with other problems such as preterm birth,
