COVID-19 Among Pregnant Women in Isolation and Women Hospitals in Assiut

COVID-19 is the disease caused by a new corona virus on December 2019 in Wuhan, China . On February 2020, the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses recognized the etiology of this infection and named it "SARS-CoV-2". World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease COVID-19 , and declared it a pandemic on March 11th 2020 .

Pregnant women are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 compared to non-pregnant women . Additionally, pregnancy represents a vulnerable period, and this pandemic can negatively impact its outcomes . Therefore, pregnant women may be a group requiring special care in relation to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 .

The modulations of the maternal immune system in pregnancy may have consequences for the clinical course of COVID-19 , for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in pregnancy . In addition to the systemic immunological changes, the reduction in total lung capacity and inability to clear secretions occurring during pregnancy can make pregnant more susceptible to severe respiratory infections .

There are higher levels of circulating coagulation and fibrinolytic factors during pregnancy which may be implicated in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

COVID-19 disease has a similar spectrum of symptoms in pregnant woman as in non-pregnant woman . Although most of the symptoms are less frequent during pregnancy but pregnant women are more likely to need admission to an ICU and require invasive ventilation .