In
obstetrics, the maternal immune system plays a critical role in the
establishment and maintenance of a healthy pregnancy. The immune response of
the placenta plays important role in determining a maternal vulnerability
toward infectious diseases. The various adverse outcome, ranging from preterm
birth, injury to the fetal brain cortex and fetal death are all documented in
infected neonates. In obstetrics, viral
infections can be either transmitted through the in-utero, intrapartum, and postpartum periods. Nevertheless, with
the recent pandemic of coronavirus and some documented cases of a
positively infected neonate, it is becoming more apparent that the mode of
transmission of coronavirus during pregnancy needs to be better understood.
This review focuses on revealing the possible modes of transmission of the
coronavirus in obstetrics.
References
[1]
Esakandari, H., Nabi-Afjadi, M., Fakkari-Afjadi, J., Farahmandian, N., Miresmaeili, S.-M. and Bahreini, E. (2020) A Comprehensive Review of COVID-19 Characteristics. Biological Procedures Online, 22, Article No. 19.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12575-020-00128-2
[2]
Rasmussen, S.A., Smulian, J.C., Lednicky, J.A., Wen, T.S. and Jamieson, D.J. (2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Pregnancy: What Obstetricians Need to Know. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 222, 415-426.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2020.02.017
[3]
Singhal, T. (2020) A Review of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 87, 281-286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-020-03263-6
[4]
Ye, Z.-W. and Jin, D.-Y. (2020) Diagnosis, Treatment, Control and Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 and Coronavirus Disease 2019: Back to the Future. Chinese Journal of Biotechnology, 36, 571-592.
[5]
Alzamora, M.C., Paredes, T., Caceres, D., Webb, C.M., Valdez, L.M. and La Rosa, M. (2020) Severe COVID-19 during Pregnancy and Possible Vertical Transmission. American Journal of Perinatology, 37, 861-865.
https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1710050
[6]
Diriba, K., Awulachew, E. and Getu, E. (2020) The Effect of Coronavirus Infection (SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV) during Pregnancy and the Possibility of Vertical Maternal-Fetal Transmission: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. European Journal of Medical Research, 25, 39.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-020-00439-w
[7]
Yan, J., Guo, J., Fan, C., Juan, J., Yu, X., Li, J., Feng, L., Li, C., Chen, H., Qiao, Y., Lei, D., Wang, C., Xiong, G., et al. (2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Pregnant Women: A Report Based on 116 Cases. The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 223, 111.e1-111.e14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2020.04.014
[8]
Cosma, S., Carosso, A.R., Cusato, J., Borella, F., Carosso, M., Bovetti, M., Filippini, C., D’Avolio, A., Ghisetti, V., Di Perri, G. and Benedetto, C. (2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 and First-Trimester Spontaneous Abortion: A Case-Control Study of 225 Pregnant Patients. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2020.10.005
[9]
Chen, H., Guo, J., Wang, C., Luo, F., Yu, X., Zhang, W., Li, J., Zhao, D., Xu, D., Gong, Q., Liao, J., Yang, H., Hou, W., et al. (2020) Clinical Characteristics and Intrauterine Vertical Transmission Potential of COVID-19 Infection in Nine Pregnant Women: A Retrospective Review of Medical Records. The Lancet (London, England), 395, 809-815. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30360-3
[10]
Egloff, C., Picone, O., Vauloup-Fellous, C. and Roques, P. (2020) Mother to Child SARS-CoV-2 Transmission: Fact or Fantasy. Virologie (Montrouge, France), 24, 142-146. https://doi.org/10.1684/vir.2020.0838
[11]
Fathi, M., Vakili, K., Deravi, N., Yaghoobpoor, S., Ahsan, E., Mokhtari, M., Moshfeghi, M. and Vaezjalali, M. (2020) Coronavirus Diseases and Pregnancy: COVID-19, SARS, and MERS. Przeglad Epidemiologiczny, 74, 276-289.
https://doi.org/10.32394/pe.74.21
[12]
Phoswa, W.N. and Khaliq, O.P. (2020) Since January 2020 Elsevier Has Created a COVID-19 Resource Centre with Free Information in English and Mandarin on the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 Resource Centre Is Hosted on Elsevier Connect, the Company’s Public News and Information.
[13]
Zheng, T., Guo, J., He, W., Wang, H., Yu, H. and Ye, H. (2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Pregnancy: 2 Case Reports on Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes in Yichang City, Hubei Province, China. Medicine (Baltimore), 99, e21334.
https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000021334
[14]
Elrashdy, F., Redwan, E.M. and Uversky, V.N. (2020) Why COVID-19 Transmission Is More Efficient and Aggressive than Viral Transmission in Previous Coronavirus Epidemics? Biomolecules, 10, 1312. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10091312
[15]
Mullins, E., Evans, D., Viner, R.M., O’Brien, P. and Morris, E. (2020) Coronavirus in Pregnancy and Delivery: Rapid Review. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 55, 586-592. https://doi.org/10.1002/uog.22014
[16]
Wu, Y.-T., Liu, J., Xu, J.-J., Chen, Y.-F., Yang, W., Chen, Y., Li, C., Wang, Y., Liu, H., Zhang, C., Jiang, L., Qian, Z.-X., Kawai, A., et al. (2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Pregnancy: 2 Case Reports on Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes in Yichang City, Hubei Province, China. PLOS Medicine, 17, e1003195.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003195
[17]
Auriti, C., Rose, D.U., Tzialla, C., Caforio, L., Ciccia, M., Manzoni, P. and Stronati, M. (2020) Vertical Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): Are Hypotheses More than Evidences? American Journal of Perinatology, 37, S31.
https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1714346
[18]
Xiao, F., et al. (2020) Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in Feces of Patient with Severe COVID-19. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 26, 1920-1922.
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2608.200681
[19]
Dong, L., et al. (2020) Possible Vertical Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from an Infected Mother to Her Newborn. JAMA, 323, 1846-1848.
[20]
Centeno-Tablante, E., et al. (2020) Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through Breast Milk and Breastfeeding: A Living Systematic Review. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1484, 32-54.
[21]
Zeng, H., Xu, C., Fan, J., Tang, Y., Deng, Q., Zhang, W. and Long, X. (2020) Antibodies in Infants Born to Mothers with COVID-19 Pneumonia. JAMA, 323, 1848-1849. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4861
[22]
Di Toro, F., et al. (2021) Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 27, 36-46.
[23]
Tahamtan, A. and Ardebili, A. (2020) Real-Time RT-PCR in COVID-19 Detection: Issues Affecting the Results. Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 20, 453-454.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14737159.2020.1757437
