Effects of COVID-19 in Pregnancy

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged to be one of the scariest contagious diseases in recent times. It was first identified in December 2019 in a city named Wuhan in China. Since, then over millions of cases have been reported, with the numbers still rising, affecting over 150 countries and causing millions of deaths. The disease is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2 and the main presenting symptoms are cough, fever, chills, fatigue, sore throat, and myalgia. While the health-line workers all over the world are fighting to combat this virus, there is a lot fear and anxiety prevailing among people but there is an increased tension among the pregnant women. A lot of questions are being raised like should the pregnant individuals be extra cautious? Do they have an increased risk of suffering a miscarriage? Is there an increased risk of giving birth to preterm babies? Is it even advisable to plan for pregnancy during these tough times? In general, in pregnancy due to a change in the hormone levels and immune system functions there is an increased risk to catch a lot of infectious diseases prevailing around us, but a lot of case studies suggest that pregnant women do not seem to be at a greater risk for COVID-19 than other individuals. However, it is important to address this issue as the numbers have been rising rapidly with no specific cure available as of now.