11 neonatal Covid-19 cases has hosps worried about threat to new-borns

PUNE From zero neonatal Covid-19 cases to 11 such cases in less than a month’s time, including two with rare symptoms, three city hospitals are seeing a larger threat to unborn and neonates (0-28 days) in the second wave

PUNE From zero neonatal Covid-19 cases to 11 such cases in less than a month’s time, including two with rare symptoms, three city hospitals are seeing a larger threat to unborn and neonates (0-28 days) in the second wave.

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This could be even more severe in the anticipated third wave as vaccination for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers is under consideration by the government of India.

According to the British Medical Journal there are 44 reported cases of neonates with confirmed Covid-19.

The study states: “26 observational studies (18 case reports and ei0ght case series) with 44 newborns with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in the final analysis. Studies were mainly from China and Italy. Half of neonates had a documented contact with the infected mother and one out of three infected neonates was admitted from home. Median age at diagnosis was five days. One out of four neonates was asymptomatic, and the remaining showed mild symptoms typical of acute respiratory infections and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. The majority of neonates were left in spontaneous breathing (room air) and had good prognosis after a median duration of hospitalisation of 10 days”.

Dr Pradeep Suryanvashi, who is working as a consultant with the three hospitals, Noble hospital, Sahyadri hospital and Bharati Vidyapeeth hospital said, “We have seen 11 newborn babies with Covid-19 infection after five days of life. Most of the babies had fever as a presentation, four babies presented with breathing problems and one baby presented with convulsion (viral encephalitis). This type of presentation we have not noticed in the first wave. We also saw rare cases of one case of convulsion and heart failure. In view of the anticipated third wave we have prepared six beds in intensive care for neonatal Ccovid-19 cases.”

Dr Suryavanshi also added it was found that steroids worked well with the babies. He said, “Some of the common symptoms among symptomatic newborns were fever, decreased feeding, dehydration, loose motions, breathing difficulty, convulsion, cardiac failure and renal failure.”

“Regarding treatment for severe neonate cases, it was found that the baby needs admission in neonatal ICU. No need of Remdesivir for newborn infection and it was found that there is no role of immunoglobulin and plasma therapy,” he added.

In view of the increasing cases of Covid19 among paediatric and neonates, the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) released a statement that said, “Pregnant women are not at increased risk of getting infected as compared to the general population. Just as for the general population, Covid-19 has an asymptomatic or mild course for most pregnant women. However, compared to non-pregnant women and pregnant women who are not infected, pregnant women who are infected are more likely to need hospitalisation, and critical care.”

The statement added, “For pregnant women, live attenuated vaccines are contraindicated. It should be noted that none of the vaccines available in the market globally are live attenuated. Other vaccines which may have some theoretical considerations regarding transmission are the viral vector vaccines. We emphasise that these considerations are theoretical. One can conclude that based on the mechanism of the available vaccines; there is no obvious basis for excluding pregnant or lactating women from vaccination.”