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TUESDAY, March 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) — There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 undergoes intrauterine or transplacental transmission from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-infected pregnant women to fetuses, according to a study published online March 17 in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
David A. Schwartz, M.D., from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University in Atlanta, reviewed the outcomes of two previous coronavirus infections (severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] caused by SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome [MERS] caused by MERS-CoV) on pregnancy outcomes and analyzed the literature describing 38 pregnant women with COVID-19 and their newborns in China to examine the transmissibility of the virus from mother to infant.<\/p>\n
Schwartz found that unlike coronavirus infections of pregnant women caused by SARS and MERS, COVID-19 did not lead to maternal deaths in these 38 pregnant women. There were no confirmed cases of intrauterine transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from mothers with COVID-19 to their fetuses, similar to pregnancies with SARS and MERS. All neonatal specimens tested, including some placentas, were negative for SARS-CoV-2 by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction.<\/p>\n
“There are currently updated recommendations available on the obstetrical management of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women,” Schwartz writes. “In addition, it must be remembered that as vaccine development proceeds for COVID-19 that pregnant women should be considered for inclusion in the clinical trials as well as the eventual distribution of the vaccine unless the risks outweigh the potential benefits.”<\/p>\n