Immunology of pregnancy and COVID-19 infection: a review in the current context

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first detected in December 2019 and became an epidemic in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The immune system is known to be dysregulated during the course of this disease. Objective: Present updated information related to the immunology of pregnancy and COVID-19 infection. Methods: The information search for this review was carried out in the PubMed, EBSCO, Scopus and Scielo databases. The main search engine was Google Scholar. An analysis of the recovered articles was carried out in order to select the most rigorous and important ones. Analysis and synthesis of the information Compared to the general population, pregnant women do not appear to be more susceptible to the consequences of COVID-19 infection. However, due to the physiological changes that take place, pregnant women are considered a vulnerable population with respect to viral respiratory infections. This virus can alter the immune response at the maternal-fetal interface and affect the well-being of the mother and child. However, it is not associated with major maternal or neonatal complications. These data should be taken with caution, since the number of pregnancy reports is still considered small to make a definitive statement. Conclusions: Although there are few reported cases, the clinical characteristics reported in pregnant women with confirmed COVID-19 infection are similar to those reported for non-pregnant adults in the general population and are indicative of a relatively optimistic clinical course based on the results. for this infection.