Study of perinatal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a Mexican public hospital

Ramírez-Rosas, Adriana; Benitez-Guerrero, Tizziani; Corona-Cervantes, Karina; Vélez-Ixta, Juan Manuel; Zavala-Torres, Norma Gabriela; Cuenca-Leija, Jazmin; Martínez-Pichardo, Sarahi; Landero-Montes-de-Oca, María Esther; Bastida-González, Fernando Guadalupe; Zárate-Segura, Paola Berenice; García-Mena, Jaime

COVID-19 is a viral transmissible disease where limited evidence exists on vertical transmission and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy, birth, and postnatal period. The objective of this study was to evaluate the possible perinatal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in mothers and neonates in a sample of Mexican population in a descriptive cross-sectional study. Methods. 133 nasopharyngeal swab samples from mothers, 131 swab samples from neonates, and 140 colostrum samples were obtained, and the presence of SARS-CoV-2 was determined by qPCR. Our results shows that 1 of 8 asymptomatic 38 to 39 weeks pregnant women were positive for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swabs taken just before delivery; and 1 of 12 nasopharyngeal swabs collected from neonates immediately after delivery without breast feeding were also positive. We also determined that 1 of 47 colostrum/milk samples were positive for the test. In addition, there was not an association of positive results with any collected metadata of mothers or newborns. Conclusions. asymptomatic women carried SARS-CoV-2 virus during delivery, with perinatal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to newborns. Since neonates were sampled immediately after birth, the detection of positive cases might be due to infection by the virus in-utero.