Will pregnant women infected with COVID-19 be transmitted to the fetus? See what the academician says

How do pregnant women do obstetric examinations during the epidemic control period?

How to do self-testing at home?

If unfortunately infected, will the fetus in the womb be affected?

……

This is a special time

Many pregnant mothers and family members are worried at home

Worry about the health of the pregnant woman and the fetus

Worry about the surrounding environment affecting the health of the fetus

In order to alleviate the anxiety of pregnant women during home isolation and jointly guard the "safety barrier" of mothers and babies under the epidemic situation, the "Academician TALK" column opened by the Municipal Talent Office invited academician Huang Hefeng, a famous reproductive expert, to teach the knowledge of maternal care in special periods online.

"Academician TALK" is a forum on knowledge innovation and discipline initiated by the Shanghai Talent Office. During the epidemic period, the "Academician Shou 'Shanghai' One Heart Fight Against the Epidemic - Cloud Classroom Series Program" was launched to give full play to the advantages of professional talents in psychological counseling and emotional support. Answer questions for you at home online, provide scientific guidance on health and emotional management during home isolation, and deliver the good voice of talents and the positive energy of fighting the epidemic!

In this issue, we invited Academician Huang Hefeng, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chief Physician of the Affiliated Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, and President of the Institute of Reproduction and Development of Fudan University, to talk to you about maternal self-care.

How do our pregnant women do obstetric examinations during the epidemic control period?

Draw the point

The health manual is green – low-risk – and normal pregnant women are discouraged from going out for regular obstetric check-ups, and recommend that they do self-tests at home.

The health manual is yellow – the mother or fetus is at risk – and the obstetric examination needs to be done at the specified time, and the safety of the mother and baby can be ensured by consulting a designated doctor or hospital online.

Health manuals are orange, red, or even purple – high-risk situations – and should be visited at designated hospitals for obstetric examinations.

How do low-risk pregnant women do self-testing at home?

1. Take your temperature every day and eat and drink properly.

2. Regularly monitor fetal movements, pay attention to the regularity, frequency and amplitude of fetal fetal movements.

【Special Reminder】

If you count down a day, the number of fetal movements is reduced by more than one-third compared with the original; or the fetal movement is very weak, or even not felt; or the fetal movement is frequent and the fetal movement amplitude is large, these are abnormal phenomena. If this is the case, you must consult your designated specialist immediately for an online consultation. If it is necessary to come to the hospital, then you should come to the hospital immediately for consultation.

Will infection with COVID-19 be transmitted to the fetus?

Is it necessary to terminate the pregnancy in the early stages of pregnancy?

The results show that pregnant women in the early stages of COVID-19 infection have positive blood and stool test results, but their vaginal secretions, milk, placenta, amniotic fluid, and newborn cord blood test results are mostly negative.

About two out of ten newborns are positive. However, after research analysis, we believe that the positiveness of these newborns is likely to be related to the environment in which the mother gave birth.

【Expert Advice】

If the mother is positive, once the newborn is born, it is necessary to quickly leave the delivery room or operating room and immediately move to another relatively clean environment for umbiliculation, washing and bandaging.

Expectant mothers in the early trimester are advised not to blindly terminate their pregnancies, as there is no study showing that the new crown virus will be transmitted directly to the fetus through pregnant women.

Do positive women have to have a caesarean section?

Can a positive mother breastfeed?

If there is no obstetric indication, not a critically ill patient, we recommend that full-term pregnant women give birth vaginally.

Positive mothers can squeeze out the milk every day and save it, and after 14 days, if the nucleic acid test result is negative, then breastfeeding. In addition, if the mother has returned to negative, it is also possible to breastfeed normally. This is also the currently accepted view.

Write at the end

For the novel coronavirus, there is currently no clinical data to conclusively support intrauterine transmission caused by infection during pregnancy. In several previous cases of mid- and third-trimester pregnancy, we did not detect the novel coronavirus in their placenta, amniotic fluid, and cord blood.

The latest meta-analysis in 2021, which searched for world-renowned data such as Pubmed and Web of Science, collected the results of 68 clinical studies between 2019.11 and 2020.06, and analyzed the outcomes of 1,019 confirmed COVID-19 women and 1035 newborns, and found that based on existing studies, there is insufficient evidence to support caesarean section being superior to spontaneous delivery in preventing possible vertical transmission.

For the vaginal delivery of women infected with the new crown virus is relatively safe, as long as the protection is done, if there is no other indication for caesarean section, it is not recommended to blindly use caesarean section to reduce the vertical transmission of mother and baby.

The indications for termination of pregnancy by caesarean section mainly include: severe pneumonia of the new crown, poor control of the disease, various emergency obstetric conditions and fetal distress, and imminent delivery but short-term inability to deliver. Both delivery and surgery should be performed in a negative pressure isolation ward or operating room.

"Academicians keep 'Shanghai' and fight the epidemic with one heart - cloud classroom series program"