Cover Story Pregnancy & Covid-19
PREGNANCY DURING COVID-19 EFFECTS MOTHER AND BABY?
The COVID-19 pandemic has everyone anxious and in fear. If you are
pregnant, undoubtedly you have a lot of queries about whether coronavirus poses a threat to you and your baby. The answers are not crystal clear yet, due to the evolving nature of the disease. Knowledge from past epidemics due to similar respiratory illnesses help understand and manage viral infections during pregnancy. Here are the common queries among pregnant women answered. Dr. Lavanya Kiran, MBBS, MS,FRM,MBA,PGDMLE Senior Consultant-Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Narayana Multispeciality Clinic, Bangalore
What effect does coronavirus have on pregnant women? Generally, pregnant women do not appear to be more risky than healthy adults to develop a more serious disease or any complications if affected by coronavirus. Mostly, they will only experience mild to moderate flu-like symptoms.
If you are pregnant and your flu-like symptoms are getting worse, it could mean that your chest infection is getting more severe, and you may require hospitalization. If you develop more severe symptoms or your recovery is getting delayed, contact a first response hospital near you immediately.
It is not yet known if pregnant women are more susceptible to be infected by COVID-19 when compared to the normal population. Despite this, pregnant women are advised to reduce social contact by social distancing. It is an established fact that in some women, pregnancy alters how the body fights some viral infections. Though evidence for coronavirus is still insufficient, it is for this reason that pregnant women are advised to be extra cautious during this pandemic.
44
TECHAGAPPE
OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2020
What effect wil l corona virus have on my baby if I test positive for COVID-19? As this is a very new virus, all the in- formation and evidence is still not available to us. There is no evidence to suggest an increased risk of miscarriage if exposed to COVID-19. There is also no evidence of vertical transmission, which refers to the ability of the virus to pass to your unborn baby during pregnancy. In a study of nine pregnant women in China who tested positive for COVID-19, all nine babies tested negative for the virus and were healthy overal l. One pregnant lady in London tested positive for coronavirus and later her newborn also tested positive. However, it is unclear whether the baby con-
