Prevalence and Impact of COVID-19 Infection in Pregnant Women, Fetuses and Newborns

Overview

A novel human coronavirus, named SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in China, in late 2019, and is now spreading quickly causing a pandemic. It is usually responsible for a mild infectious syndrome, but patients can also develop pneumonia, acute respiratory failure and other serious complications. To date, very little and controversial literature is available on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on pregnancy, and the potential risk of vertical transmission. Therefore, the first part of the study, will evaluate the proportion of pregnant woman infected by SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy over the next six months by performing SARS-CoV-2 serology during pregnancy and at delivery . This information will be correlated to pregnancy and neonatal outcome. The second part of the study 2 will collect sera from several mandatory screening that are kept for one year. Those will be used for assessing the time of the seroconversion and variations of susceptibility to infection with gestational age as well as the impact of social distancing measures. Concerning neonates born to mothers with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, only few cases of congenital infections were recently reported because of pneumonia related to SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or positive IgM at birth. It remains unclear whether neonatal infection can follow transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and/or through early per- and postnatal exposure, including breast-feeding. In order to investigate these hypotheses, the third part of the study will perform, SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests in a variety of samples collected from infected-mother (symptomatic during the pregnancy and PCR confirmed) and child pairs, at delivery and in the postpartum period.

A novel human coronavirus, named SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in China, in late 2019, and is now spreading quickly causing a pandemic. It is usually responsible for a mild infectious syndrome, but patients can also develop pneumonia, acute respiratory failure and other serious complications. To date, very little and controversial literature is available on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on pregnancy, and the potential risk of vertical transmission. Currently we do not know how many pregnant women may be infected by SARS-CoV-2 and if, as for influenza, they might more likely develop severe infection. Therefore, the first part of the study, will evaluate the proportion of pregnant woman infected by SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy over the next six months by performing SARS-CoV-2 serology during pregnancy and at delivery. This information will be correlated to pregnancy and neonatal outcome. The second part of the study 2 will collect sera from several mandatory screening that are kept for one year. Those will be used for assessing the time of the seroconversion and variations of susceptibility to infection with gestational age as well as the impact of social distancing measures. Concerning neonates born to mothers with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, only few cases of congenital infections were recently reported because of pneumonia related to SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or positive IgM at birth. It remains unclear whether neonatal infection can follow transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and/or through early per- and postnatal exposure, including breast-feeding. In order to investigate these hypotheses, the third part of the study will perform, SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests in a variety of samples collected from infected-mother (symptomatic during the pregnancy and PCR confirmed) and child pairs, at delivery and in the postpartum period.