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Post-COVID 19 conception - Dr.Mehta's Hospitals

Covid and pregnancy

By Dr.Mehta's Hospitals ChennaiPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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There is no official guidance about trying for a baby at this time. Whether to start trying for a baby is a very personal choice and the coronavirus pandemic does not change that. As the virus is still very new, we do not know a lot yet about any effects it may have on pregnancy. But right now, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that coronavirus increases the risk of miscarriage at any stage of pregnancy, including the first few weeks.

Research is still ongoing and there have not been any studies done to see if contracting the COVID-19 infection now will make it harder to get pregnant later.

At this time, pregnant people don’t appear to be at a higher risk for contracting the virus.

If you don’t have COVID-19, there is no medical reason to change your plans about trying to conceive.

Most fertility clinics that closed at the beginning of the pandemic are now operational, with the proper safety precautions in place. Because clinics close and reopen based on the regional severity of COVID-19, if you are interested in pursuing assisted reproductive technology (ART), you should contact a clinic near you to see what services are currently being offered.

If you meet the diagnostic criteria for COVID-19, it’s recommended that you avoid getting pregnant and wait until the illness subsides before attempting pregnancy or pursuing ART.

Everyone, including pregnant people, should be exercising precautions to avoid infection.

As with planning for a pregnancy at any time, there are lots of things you can to make your pregnancy and baby healthier. These include

starting to take folic acid

starting to take vitamin D 

eating a healthy, balanced diet

cutting down on caffeine

maintaining a healthy weight.

Staying active is also very important. This can be difficult while you are self-isolating, but there may be things you can do.

Impact on males:

Common question: Can you get COVID-19 from sperm? According to the CDC, we don't know quite yet, though reviews of the preliminary data we have suggest that COVID-19 is not sexually transmittable — meaning the virus is unlikely to transmit through seminal or vaginal fluids.

Out of an abundance of caution, patients who have high likelihood of having COVID-19 (fever and/or cough, shortness of breath, and either exposure within 6 feet of a confirmed COVID-19 patient and within 14 days of onset of symptoms, or a positive COVID-19 test result), including those planning to use oocyte donors, sperm donors should strive to avoid a pregnancy. If these patients are undergoing active infertility treatment, we suggest that they consider freezing all oocytes or embryos and avoid an embryo transfer until they are disease-free. Freezing eggs or sperm, according to ASRM, there is no evidence of cross-contamination of COVID-19 in ART labs — meaning it’s unlikely that your sperm or eggs would come into contact and be affected by COVID-19 once stored. Preliminary evidence suggests that gametes ( sperm and eggs) cannot transmit COVID-19. This likely means that using the frozen sperm or eggs of someone who had COVID-19 during their retrieval won't lead to infection.

Dealing with pregnancy:

In-utero parent-to-child transmission of COVID-19 during pregnancy itself is unlikely. In the few studied cases of children testing positive for COVID-19 at birth, there’s been no evidence of COVID-19 in the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, or placenta.

Infants testing positive for COVID-19 at birth almost universally recover and don't exhibit severe symptoms.

Child birth:

Guidelines from both AAP and CDC suggest the risk of mother-to-child transmission from breast milk is very low. People with COVID-19 who decide to start direct breastfeeding should take the necessary precautions, like mask-wearing, to decrease the risk of transmission to the infant.

Effect on children:

According to the CDC, children don’t seem to be at a higher risk of contracting the virus. They’re also more likely than adults to be completely asymptomatic and to not experience severe symptoms. Similar to what we see in adults, children with certain underlying conditions may be at higher risk of experiencing severe symptoms if they were to catch COVID-19.

Vaccination:

While we have very little data about the vaccine right now, its effects in people who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and long-term effects on fertility — and despite pregnant and breastfeeding people being excluded from trials — recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, ACOG, ASRM, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) all suggest that those who are trying to conceive, pregnant, or breastfeeding have the option of getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

There are no studies that have specifically studied the effect of the vaccine on chances of conception, and fetal or infant outcomes. But based on observational data in humans and animals, the chance that there is a harmful impact is low to absent.

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