Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes Associated With COVID-19 Infection in Pregnant Mothers Admitted in Tertiary Care Hospital in Central State of India.

In spite of various reports on perinatal outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during pregnancies, the effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on unborn babies and pregnant mothers are still mysterious. The goal of our research is to examine the perceived fetomaternal outcomes of COVID-19 during pregnancy. A total of 396 pregnant women were admitted to the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Pt. JNM Medical College, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India, during the period from July 20, 2020 to January 6, 2021. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 in different biological samples was recorded via positive quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results. All the newborns delivered from the infected pregnant mothers were tested as RT-PCR negative. Negative findings of RT-PCR for respiratory swabs of newborns, amniotic fluid, placental tissue, breast milk, vaginal swabs, and cord blood indicated no transmission of the virus from mother to baby. However, maternal outcomes, such as hospitalization (46.96%), preeclampsia (13.88%), pre-term birth (14.39%), prelabor rupture of membranes (PROM) before 34 weeks (3.78%), PROM before 37 weeks (2.77%), vaginal bleeding (4.29%), postpartum hemorrhage (2.52%), pregnancy-induced hypertension (1.51%), and neonatal outcomes such as low birth weight ≤1.5 kg (6.59) and 1.6-2.4 kg (39.34%), intrauterine deaths (IUD) (0.50%), fetal distress (22.33%), NICU admission (5.58%), meconium-stained liquor (14.46%), diarrhea (0.25%), and low APGAR score 4-6 at 1 min (20.54%), were observed. The results of the present study indicate that SARS-CoV-2-induced complications during pregnancy must be taken seriously. Intrauterine fetal deaths occurred at lower rates. There is no substantial proof of vertical perinatal transmission of the virus, as none of the neonates had tested positive for COVID-19.

In silico bioprospecting of antiviral compounds from marine fungi and mushroom for rapid development of nutraceuticals against SARS-CoV-2.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) affects human respiratory function that causes COVID-19 disease. COVID-19 has spread rapidly all over the world and became a pandemic within no time. Therefore, it is the need of hour to screen potential lead candidates from natural resources like edible mushrooms and marine fungi. These natural resources are very less explored till now and known to be the source for many medicinal compounds with several health benefits. These medicinal compounds can be easily exploited for the faster development of nutraceuticals for controlling SARS-CoV-2 infections. Our Insilico research suggests, bioactive compounds originating from mushroom and marine fungi shows strong potential to interact with ACE2 receptor or main protease of SARS-CoV-2, showing the inhibition activity towards the enzymatic protease. We performed a series of Insilico studies for the validation of our results, which includes Molecular docking, drug likeness property investigation by Swiss ADME tools, MD simulation, and thermodynamically stable free binding energy calculation. Overall, these results suggest that Ganodermadiol and Heliantriol F bioactive compounds originating from edible mushroom has strong potential to be developed as low-cost nutraceutical against SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. The drug candidate isolated from marine fungi and edible mushroom are highly unexplored for the development of potential alternative drug against SARS-CoV-2 virus with minimum side effects. Though our in silico studies of these compounds are showing a promising results against SARS-CoV-2 main protease and ACE2 receptor binding domain, the effectiveness of these bioactive compounds should be further validated by proper clinical trials.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Placental Histopathology in COVID-19-Positive Mothers.

The placenta is a captivating multifunctional organ of fetal origin and plays an essential role during pregnancy by intimately connecting mother and baby. This study explicates placental pathology and information about 25 placentas collected from the mothers infected with novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2). So far, congenital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 seems to be remarkably uncommon in spite of many cases of COVID-19 during pregnancy. Out of the 25 placental tissue samples collected, none has shown gene expression of SARS-CoV-2 when confirmed by RT-PCR. At the same time, nasal and throat swab samples collected from newborns of SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers correspondingly tested negative by RT-PCR. The shielding properties of placental barriers against viral infections from mothers to newborns remains a mystery. Major histopathological findings have been recorded as choriodecidual tissue with necrosis, intramural fibrin deposition, chorionic villi with fibrosis, and calcification. Moreover, although recent findings are insufficient to prove direct placental transmission of COVID-19, the abundance of angiotensin-converting enzymes-2 (ACE-2) on the placental surface could potentially contribute to unpleasant outcomes during pregnancy as SARSCoV-2 gains access to human cells via ACE-2. Finally, the significance of these findings is vague and needs further study.

Vertical Virus Transmission from SARS-CoV-2-positive Mothers to Neonates: A Tertiary Care Hospital Experience

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is evolving rapidly worldwide. However, little is known about the association between pregnant women with COVID-19 and its transmission to neonates. This investigation aimed to see if COVID-19 infection could be transmitted vertically into the uterus. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study. 48 COVID-19 infected mothers were enrolled during their third trimester. A qRT-PCR assay of the nasal and oropharyngeal swab samples was performed to confirm positive for COVID-19 infection as per WHO protocol. In addition, characteristics of pregnant women with confirmed SARS -CoV-2 infection and newborns were documented. Results: Forty-eight expectant mothers, 10 (20.8%) were found symptomatic, and 38 (79.2%) were asymptomatic, with COVID-19 infection were delivered (33 cesarean section & 15 vaginal deliveries). One female child (4.1%) out of 48 newborns was initially diagnosed with COVID-19 infection based on a nucleic acid qRT-PCR. The female child showed no or negligible signs and recovered completely, whereas 47 neonates (95.9%) confirmed negative. None of the mothers or neonates died from COVID-19 related pulmonary problems. Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence on vertical virologic transmission of COVID-19 infection during the third trimester of pregnancy. Additionally, research and surveillance involving adequate testing of samples of placental tissue, breast milk, vaginal swab, amniotic fluid, and cord blood will be needed to establish the possibility of vertical transmission of infection. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Microbiology & Infectious Diseases is the property of Journal of Microbiology & Infectious Diseases and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Anxiety among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in India - A multicentric study.

While higher anxiety during antenatal period cause several maternal and foetal health related complications, lower anxiety levels are found to be associated with lesser "precautionary behaviours" and consequently greater risk of infection, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we aimed to assess rates and determinants of generalized anxiety at the time of the pandemic as well as anxiety that was specific to the context of being pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic. (COVID-19-antenatal anxiety) in Indian women. This hospital-based, cross-sectional study using face-to-face interviews was conducted at antenatal clinics of five medical college hospitals in India. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD -7) and a customized scale to assess antenatal COVID-19 anxiety along with other tools that assessed social support and COVID-19-risk perception were administered to 620 pregnant women. We found that the percentage of women with moderate or severe anxiety based on GAD -7 was 11.1%. Multivariate analysis showed that higher COVID-19-risk perception, greater antenatal COVID-19 anxiety and lower perceived support significantly predicted moderate and severe generalized anxiety. Greater number of weeks of gestation, lower education, semiurban habitat and lower perceived social support were significant predictors of antenatal COVID-19 anxiety. We conclude that the rates of anxiety in pregnant women though not very high, still warrant attention and specific interventions.