ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is mainly transmitted through droplets, but other ways of transmission have been hypothesized. We report a case of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a preterm born to an infected mother, confirmed by the presence of the virus in the neonatal blood, nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs collected in the first half an hour of life. The neonate presented with acute respiratory distress, similar to the findings in severely affected adults. This case highlights the importance of pregnancy, labor and neonatal period surveillance of affected mothers and their newborns.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/diagnosis , Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/diagnosis , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/etiology , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/diagnosis , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/etiology , Adult , Biomarkers , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/transmission , Female , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Pregnancy , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/epidemiology , Radiography, Thoracic , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/epidemiology , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/transmission , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the most frequent cause of congenital infection, leading to long-term sequelae especially sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Since 5-15 % of the asymptomatic newborns will develop late sequelae, the implementation of a universal screening would allow the identification of infected children and early intervention. The aim of this study was to validate the use of saliva pools of 10 and 20 samples for the detection of HCMV congenital infection. Four spiking samples (negative saliva matrix added with known concentration of AD169 strain culture supernatant) and a set of 12 saliva samples, collected from newborns with confirmed congenital infection in their first three weeks of life, were tested individually and after dilution in 10 and 20 pools by an "in-house" RT-PCR. Both pool methodologies, 10-pool and 20-pool samples, had 100 % sensitivity and specificity when compared with individual samples. This methodology could allow a cost reduction close to 85 % and 89 %, respectively for the 10-pool and 20-pool approach, when compared with testing each sample individually. This significant reduction may open the possibility to perform the newborn screening for HCMV in a large-scale.
Subject(s)
Cytomegalovirus Infections/diagnosis , Cytomegalovirus/isolation & purification , DNA, Viral/analysis , Saliva/virology , Cytomegalovirus/genetics , Cytomegalovirus Infections/congenital , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Limit of Detection , Mouth/virology , Neonatal Screening/methods , Sensitivity and SpecificitySubject(s)
Catheter Obstruction/etiology , Catheterization, Central Venous/adverse effects , Catheters/adverse effects , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/congenital , Equipment Failure , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Infant, Premature/blood , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/blood , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/complicationsABSTRACT
Neonatal immune hyperthyroidism is a rare but potentially fatal condition. It occurs in 1-5% of infants born to women with Graves' disease (GD). In most of the cases it is due to maternal antibodies transferred from the mother into the fetal compartment, stimulating the fetal thyroid by binding thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone, TSH) receptor. We present a case of neonatal thyrotoxicosis due to maternal GD detected at 25â days of age and discuss the potential pitfalls in the diagnosis.
