COVID-19 is an illness which impacts the lungs and thus affects breathing in humans. Caused by coronavirus, its symptoms comprise cough, fever, shortness of breath, and sore throat. It may even result in several stomach problems like diarrhoea, nausea, and loss of sense of taste or smell. The symptoms usually appear about two to fourteen days after exposure to the coronavirus. Some people may be asymptomatic (have no symptoms at all) or have very mild symptoms.
COVID-19 is pretty common amongst pregnant women and affects the baby as well. In this article, you can explore various aspects of COVID-19 amongst pregnant women and how it affects the baby.
In either case, you must have health insurance for newborn baby in order to have them financially protected against any emergency that may arise post-partum!
Impact Of COVID-19 On The Pregnant Women
Pregnant women are more likely to contract the coronavirus than the normal population. Pregnancy itself affects the immune system of your body, hence, its perceivability towards the coronavirus also increases. It has been reported that the cases of COVID-19 pneumonia in pregnancy are less mild and have better recovery rate. However, in cases of other kinds of coronavirus infection such as MERS and SARS, the associated risks to the pregnant woman appear to rise, especially during the last three months of pregnancy.
There were case reports of preterm birth among women diagnosed with COVID-19. However, it is not clear if the preterm birth was spontaneous or iatrogenic. Pregnant women who have heart-related diseases are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. This epidemic increases the risks of perinatal depression, anxiety, and domestic violence.
Reports have shown that pregnant women with symptomatic COVID-19 are more likely to require a ventilator, intensive care unit, or experience death from the illness than the women who are not pregnant. However, the complete risks of severe illness or death amongst pregnant women is low. Pregnant women with gestational diabetes and obesity have an even increased risk of extreme illness.
Case Study
The exposure of a pregnant woman to the coronavirus potentially increases the threat of the development of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in her newborn baby. In this case, some organs like the lungs, heart, blood vessels, digestive system, kidneys, eyes, brain, or skin get inflamed severely. If MIS-C is not treated immediately, it may even prove to be fatal.
A new disease found amongst children who tend to develop various complications within a few weeks of being exposed to the coronavirus. However, initially, this case wasn’t a common sight among the newborn babies. However, the doctors at AIMS Kochi found a 24-day old baby who had a heart failure with multiorgan dysfunction and 10% pumping efficiency of the heart’. It was concluded that the baby’s mother had COVID-19 when she was 31 weeks pregnant. However, there were no complications related to the foetus, and the pregnant mother tested negative for RT-PCR. This case study was published in The Lancet and it acts as a source of information to understand the impacts of COVID-19 among the neonates.
With the increased relaxations of COVID-19 restrictions, pregnant women are becoming more prone to contracting complications. During such times, this particular case may have had important implications for the healthcare professionals who were taking care of the peripartum women and their babies. Once the baby was diagnosed with MIS-C, she was treated with immunomodulatory therapy. This resulted in the improvement of the baby’s condition. If the disease was not identified and treated at the right time, the disease would progress extremely fast and could even prove to be fatal. The baby became better and the professionals hoped for her healthier future.
Conclusion
Pregnant women who have contracted COVID-19 are more likely to suffer complications pre and post pregnancy, as per various findings from National Institutes of Health Study. Symptomatic pregnant women are more likely to go through caesarean delivery, hypertensive disorders, and postpartum haemorrhage. However, the baby contracting COVID-19 is a rare case. If you are pregnant, you must be extremely careful and take the necessary precautions. Newborn babies are more prone to contracting COVID-19. Hence, it is imperative that you keep your distance from them if you have it. If you are waiting for your COVID-19 results after giving birth to your baby, it is advisable to wear your masks.
