Several pathogens can be vertically transmitted during pregnancy and have detrimental effects on the fetus and/or newborn.
They are usually described under the acronym TORCH comprising toxoplasmosis, others (e.g. syphilis), rubella, cytomegalovirus (CMV), and herpes simplex virus (HSV).
Nowadays, the "others" category has rapidly expanded to include several viruses known to cause neonatal disease such as viral hepatitis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), parvovirus B19, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), enteroviruses, adenoviruses, West Nile, measles, and Zika virus.2