The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and neonates

Abstract

In late December 2019, Wuhan, China, became the center of an unknown outbreak of pneumonia that spread rapidly throughout China and around the world, including Iran, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel disease a public health emergency with global concern. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many studies have been performed on epidemiological data and clinical signs in adults. However, coherent studies in this field are very rare in infants, and support and attention to infants in the pandemic situation should be doubled due to the weakness and underdevelopment of the neonatal immune system. Therefore, the present study aimed to review COVID-19 infection in infants in which there are discussions on topics such as diagnostic tests, clinical manifestations, recommendations on breastfeeding, the criteria for discharge, and family education in pandemic conditions. The literature review shows no existing evidence of COVID-19 placental transmission from mother to infant, and that all samples prepared from amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood and breast milk in mothers with COVID -19 was negative for COVID-19 infection, and the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 were non-specific in infants, especially premature infants. Given that there is a limited number of births from a mother with COVID-19, and because the epidemiological and clinical pattern of COVID-19 in infants is unclear, this review study describes diagnostic tests, clinical manifestations, breastfeeding considerations, discharge criteria, and family education in the current understanding of COVID-19 infection in newborns and provides information for better management of SARS-CoV-2 infection in newborns.