Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr:121:79-81.
doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2022.03.003. Epub 2022 Mar 9.

Low-level SARS-CoV-2 viremia coincident with COVID placentitis and stillbirth

Leena B Mithal  1 , Sebastian Otero  2 , Lacy M Simons  3 , Judd F Hultquist  3 , Emily S Miller  4 , Egon A Ozer  3 , Elisheva D Shanes  5 , Jeffery A Goldstein  6
Affiliations

Low-level SARS-CoV-2 viremia coincident with COVID placentitis and stillbirth

Leena B Mithal et al. Placenta. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy and COVID placentitis are associated with an increased risk of stillbirth. We sought to investigate the presence of maternal viremia in people with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy who had histologic placentitis versus those without placentitis. SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR was performed on plasma from 6 patients with COVID placentitis and 12 matched controls without placentitis. SARS-CoV-2 infection occurred between 4/2020-1/2021; the latency between SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and delivery was 0-76 days. Two placentitis cases demonstrated viremia (1 stillbirth and 1 well infant), while 12/12 controls were negative. Future research may consider viremia as a possible marker of COVID placentitis.

Keywords: COVID; Placentitis; Pregnancy; SARS-CoV-2; Stillbirth; Viremia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

    1. DeSisto C.L., Wallace B., Simeone R.M., Polen K., Ko J.Y., Meaney-Delman D., Ellington S.R. Risk for stillbirth among women with and without COVID-19 at delivery hospitalization - United States, march 2020-september 2021. MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 2021;70(47):1640–1645. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stock S.J., Carruthers J., Calvert C., Denny C., Donaghy J., Goulding A., Hopcroft L.E.M., Hopkins L., McLaughlin T., Pan J., Shi T., Taylor B., Agrawal U., Auyeung B., Katikireddi S.V., McCowan C., Murray J., Simpson C.R., Robertson C., Vasileiou E., Sheikh A., Wood R. SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination rates in pregnant women in Scotland. Nat. Med. 2022 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Linehan L., O'Donoghue K., Dineen S., White J., Higgins J.R., Fitzgerald B. SARS-CoV-2 placentitis: an uncommon complication of maternal COVID-19. Placenta. 2021;104:261–266. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schwartz D.A., Avvad-Portari E., Babal P., Baldewijns M., Blomberg M., Bouachba A., Camacho J., Collardeau-Frachon S., Colson A., Dehaene I., Ferreres J.C., Fitzgerald B., Garrido-Pontnou M., Gerges H., Hargitai B., Helguera-Repetto A.C., Holmstrom S., Irles C.L., Leijonhfvud A., Libbrecht S., Marton T., McEntagart N., Molina J.T., Morotti R., Nadal A., Navarro A., Nelander M., Oviedo A., Oyamada Otani A.R., Papadogiannakis N., Petersen A.C., Roberts D.J., Saad A.G., Sand A., Schoenmakers S., Sehn J.K., Simpson P.R., Thomas K., Valdespino-Vazquez M.Y., van der Meeren L.E., Van Dorpe J., Verdijk R.M., Watkins J.C., Zaigham M. Placental tissue destruction and insufficiency from COVID-19 causes stillbirth and neonatal death from hypoxic-ischemic injury: a study of 68 cases with SARS-CoV-2 placentitis from 12 countries. Arch. Pathol. Lab Med. 2022 - PubMed
    1. National Institutes of Health . 2021. COVID-19 Treatment Guidlines: Clinical Spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources