How And Why COVID Positive Pregnant Indian Woman Suffered First Corona Miscarriage

The first case of miscarriage linked to COVID-19 infection has been reported from Mumbai in which a 20 year old pregnant woman was involved. Till now, pregnancy related cases related to COVID were either unheard of or not reported as there is no elaborate study that has been done on pregnancy complications in women diagnosed with COVID. Also, how the coronavirus affects the foetus too was not well researched or there was lack of date.

However, a study conducted by National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) and the ICMR concluded that placenta which is meant to keep the foetus safe from the infection acts as a reservoir for SARS- COV-2.

Now, in the case of the 20 year old woman who lost her baby in her first trimester, doctors found that the foetus had died in the woman's uterus itself. The woman who suffered miscarriage had been working as a security guatd at a Mumbai government hospital.

Even though the woman did not show any signs of the COVID19 infection, she underwent a nasopharyngeal test after she came in contact with a positive patient to be on the safer side when it was found that the test had turned positive much to the distress of the pregnant woman. She went into institutional quarantine for four weeks. She was glad to find another test returning negative. Unfortunately, the real tragedy struck during a routine ultrasound scan which found that the foetus had died. The woman had completed 13 weeks of her pregnancy.

Since this was a rare case, doctors ran a battery of tests to ascertain how COVID would have affected the baby. The result of the tests were that there was abnormal accumulation of fluid in the body, a result of inflammation. Doctors diagnosed the condition as hydrops fetalis.

Placenta biologist at NIRRH, Dr Deepak Modi stated that the fact that the baby died of the infection even after the woman tested negative for virus in both nasal tract and throat meant that there was a likelihood of the infection having reached the womb.

Besides, doctors found active SARS-CoV-2 virus replication in placenta and amniotic fluid after they ran a test on the amniotic fluid and placenta from the gestational sac and foetal membrane. The inference by the medical experts was that the death of the foetus was caused by inflammation which was a result of placental infection from COVID19.

This wa not the first case of a COVID woman suffering miscarriage, although this is a first in India. A Swiss woman (28 years) too, who was infected by the virus delivered a still born child when she was in her second trimester.