Case series indicates COVID-19 not transmitted in utero

(HealthDay)—Four infants born to pregnant women who tested positive for coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) were healthy at birth and had no serious clinical symptoms, according to a case series study published online March 16 in Frontiers in Pediatrics.

Yan Chen, M.D., from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, and colleagues report on the clinical course of four live born infants born to pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19 infection in Wuhan, China.

The researchers found that none of the three infants who were diagnostically tested were positive for the virus. None developed serious clinical symptoms, including fever, cough, diarrhea, or abnormal radiologic or hematologic evidence. At hospital discharge, all four infants were still alive. Two infants had rashes of unknown etiology at birth, and facial ulcerations were observed in one infant. Tachypnea was noted in one infant, who was supported with three days of noninvasive mechanical ventilation. One infant had rashes at birth, but there was no parental consent for a diagnostic test.

"It's worth noting that both [infant cases 2 and 3] showed transient skin rash after birth," the authors write. "Whether this was attributable to the maternal inflammatory toxin effect [needs] further study."

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