Higher Viral Load in Placenta of COVID-19 Pregnant Mothers

The impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) persists to be a catastrophic disaster to the human populace as the death toll rises to 4.74 million and the infected people are more than 231.9 million globally.

To shed more light, on that note, the latest study report data published on the preprint server medRxiv, says, "Hypertension after COVID-19 in pregnant women paves the way for a high viral load in the placenta. Not long ago, pregnancy was identified as a more susceptible condition to being infected with the corona virus. COVID-19 in pregnant women may lead to miscarriage, hypertension-related issues, and also premature delivery."

‘Pregnant mothers with COVID-19 are prone to hypersensitive (high blood pressure) disorders that affect the kidney, lungs, and liver.’

The current study also confirms that the heavy viral load of SARS-CoV-2 found in the COVID-19 affected pregnant women's placenta leads to high blood pressure-related disorders.

A major pregnancy complication because of the elevated blood pressure levels could be pre-eclampsia, that affects the organs of the body, such as the liver and the lungs. After 5 months of conception, women are more susceptible to preeclampsia, the hypertensive disorder.

Pre-eclampsia, is characterized by its occurrence only during pregnancy and by the endothelial abnormalities induced by the virus that causes multi-organ dysfunction."

The most common symptoms of this disorder in pregnant women are swollen faces, hands, and feet, as well as blurred vision. Persistent headaches are also witnessed in some cases. In the case of shortness of breath and abdominal pain, pregnant women should seek immediate medical intervention.

"Different parts of the body are affected by that hypersensitive disorder because of the endothelial inflammation that can affect the lungs, liver, and kidney. The reason for this can be the virus attacking the tissues and also the immune response of the host, causing inflammation."

However, the results of the studies found that 50% of the women had only a lower level of viral load (SARS-CoV-2) in the placenta. Neither the fetus nor the mother showed any kind of serious injuries, though. Only one of the studied patients had serious injuries in the placenta caused by the higher levels of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA).

Source: Medindia