Commentary on Donati et al. SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospitalized pregnant women and impact of different viral strains on COVID-19 disease severity in Italy

BJOG. 2021 Oct 23. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16981. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTUnlike many viral infections such as influenza, and the two previous incarnations of the coronavirus, SARS and MERS, Covid-19 originally appeared to be of similar severity, after adjusting for age, BMI and other co-morbidities, in the pregnant as in the non-pregnant population. Worryingly the paper from the Italian Obstetric Surveillance System COVID-19 Working Group (p …), suggests that, in pregnancy, the virus may be getting more virulent with the advent of newer variants. Specifically the need for ventilation or ICU admission was significantly increased during the second wave (alpha variant predominant) compared to the first (wild-type predominant), albeit with no maternal deaths during the first wave and only one during the second. If real, this is both unexpected and concerning. Unexpected, because viruses tend to mutate in the direction of reduced severity; it is not in the interests of the virus that the host dies. Concerning, because it suggest that the newer variants are behaving more like other viral diseases; causing more severe disease in pregnancy.PMID:34687262 | DOI:10.1111/1471-0528.16981

Source: BJOG : An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology - October 23, 2021 Category: OBGYN Authors: Jim Thornton Source Type: research