The placenta provides a significant physical and physiological barrier to prevent fetal infection during pregnancy. Nevertheless, it is at times breached by pathogens and leads to vertical transmission of infection from mother to fetus. This review will focus specifically on the Zika flavivirus, the HIV retrovirus and the emerging SARS-CoV2 coronavirus, which have affected pregnant women and their offspring in recent epidemics. In particular, we will address how viral infections affect the immune response at the maternal-fetal interface and how the placental barrier is physically breached and discuss the consequences of infection on various aspects of placental function to support fetal growth and development. Improved understanding of how the placenta responds to viral infections will lay the foundation for developing therapeutics to these and emergent viruses, to minimise the harms of infection to the offspring.

胎盘提供了重要的物理和生理屏障，以防止怀孕期间的胎儿感染。然而，它有时会被病原体破坏并导致感染从母亲垂直传播到胎儿。本综述将特别关注寨卡黄病毒、HIV 逆转录病毒和新出现的 SARS-CoV2 冠状病毒，它们在最近的流行病中影响了孕妇及其后代。特别是，我们将讨论病毒感染如何影响母胎界面的免疫反应以及胎盘屏障如何被物理破坏，并讨论感染对胎盘功能各个方面的影响，以支持胎儿的生长和发育。