Is all bacteria harmful during pregnancy?

[Svensk10]

Hello,
Might seem like a stupid question but is all bacteria harmful during pregnancy? Or only the ones we hear about most like listeria etc?

There are millions of different kinds of harmless bacteria everywhere, including inside your body. These remain harmless during pregnancy. Please don’t worry too much!

As posted previously there are lots of harmless bacteria around and those don’t pose any risk just because you are pregnant.

The bacteria that would cause harm if you weren’t pregnant are still harmful e.g. salmonella, but listeria normally wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t pregnant. That is why it is mentioned specifically because people might not realise it could cause harm while pregnant if not warned.

As above, try not to worry and follow the NHS advice about what to avoid if you are unsure.

All food poisoning can be bad if you're pregnant if it makes you severely unwell. But most doesn't intrinsically damage the baby - the danger is from things like you being dehydrated. So if you got ill you might need more treatment than if you weren't pregnant (e.g. IV fluids) but as long as you got that, baby would be OK.

The problem with listeria (uniquely?) is that it crosses the placenta. So baby can actually get listeria itself, rather than just being affected by you being unwell.

There is no need to become hypervigilant about bacteria during pregnancy. Bacteria are all around us and our bodies don't suddenly become incapable of dealing with all germs when pregnant
Thee NHS website has good lists of foods you may wish to avoid and sensible hygiene precautions to take (e.g. washing salad).

There’s bacteria on absolutely everything unless it’s been sterilised. There’s bacteria on every plate, cup, door handle, knife and fork, your hands etc. If all bacteria was bad, we’d all be dead because your body is absolutely full of it.
Think of years ago before people washed and used soap and had no cleaning products at all. They still had healthy babies or we’d have died off in the caveman days