Death of a neonate born to a critically ill mother with COVID-19: a case report

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We report a critically ill pregnant woman in the third trimester with severe pneumonia due to COVID-19 who presented to Xiaolan People's Hospital of Zhongshan in February 2020. The 32-year-old patient was admitted at 35+2 gestational weeks with a 4-day history of a sore throat and a fever for three hours. The patient had been to Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, and the symptoms occurred during a period of self-isolation after back home. The condition of the patient deteriorated rapidly, with left-sided chest and back pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, progressing to respiratory failure and septic shock 7 hours after her admission. In view of her critical condition and a history of two previous cesarean sections, an emergency cesarean section was performed. Blood gas analysis of the mother before the operation suggested respiratory failure, respiratory acidosis, and metabolic acidosis. During the operation, a baby boy was born. The Apgar score of the boy, birth weight of 2 700 g, was one at 1, 5 and 10 minutes despite the resuscitation efforts. The neonate died after withdrawing treatment. The patient was treated with tracheal intubation ventilator and other supportive treatments after the operation. The result of the new coronavirus nucleic acid test, taken on admission, but which was reported after delivery, was positive. The patient was transferred to the designated hospital for further treatment and was recovering with the withdrawal of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and ventilation support at 26 and 36 days after surgery, respectively. Key words: Pregnancy complications, infectious; Coronavirus; Pneumonia, viral; Pregnancy trimester, third; Perinatal death