An Israeli hospital said on Saturday that a fetus that died from a woman infected with the coronavirus also carries the virus. This was the second such report in Israel.
The hospital said it could not connect the virus to death at present.
The woman, infected with COVID-19, was in the 36th week of her pregnancy when she arrived at the hospital at the weekend after feeling ill, Hebrew media reports said.
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Doctors from the Meir Medical Center found that the unborn child was dead in the womb, and a subsequent laboratory test showed that the fetus was also infected with the virus.
Illustrative: A doctor at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba preparing to enter a COVID-19 ward. (courtesy of the Meir Medical Center)
Last week, a similar case was reported when the fetus of a 29-year-old woman in her 25th week of pregnancy was found to carry the virus in tests after a stillbirth.
In the case last week, the hospital said there is a high probability that the fetus died from COVID-19 complications.
‘The fetus is infected by the placenta and with a very high degree of certainty, [we can say] died as a result of coronavirus, ”said dr. Tal Brosh, head of the infectious diseases department at Assuta Hospital in Ashdod, told the Ynet news website.
Dr. Yossi Tobin, the director of the maternity ward at the hospital, agreed that the fetus was infected in the womb, that the death was probably caused by the coronavirus.
“It was an intrauterine infection of the fetus, which can cause placental infection and death,” Tobin said. ‘This is a rare occurrence because a baby is usually infected with coronavirus after birth as a result of contact with the mother. The fact that we were able to find out that they were already positive in the womb indicates a high probability that [the fetus] died due to coronavirus. ”
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Maccabi Healthcare Services vaccination center in Modiin on 24 December 2020. (Yossi Aloni / Flash90)
The Ministry of Health has advised pregnant women to take the coronavirus vaccine after a number of women who were expecting became seriously ill. Several babies were born prematurely via a caesarean section due to life-threatening risks for the mothers and the children.
Some of the women are suspected of being infected with the so-called British strain of the coronavirus, a mutated strain that is believed to be more contagious and deadly.
The Centers for Disease Control of the United States also said that pregnant women should be allowed to receive the vaccine, noting that they are at increased risk for serious illness or death due to COVID-19.
“People who are pregnant and part of a group that is recommended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine may choose to be vaccinated,” the agency said in a statement.