Main Findings
SARS-CoV-2 was detected in vaginal swabs of two pregnant women with
COVID-19 and in placental swabs of two severe fetal cases after maternal
COVID-19. Within the first eight days of a positive pharyngeal swab,
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were detected in only 7.7% of the women, while
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were observed in 90.5% women tested more than
eight days after a positive swab. Antibodies in umbilical cord blood
were not detected within the first 16 days after the mother was tested
positive, hereafter, antibodies were present in 94.1% of cord blood
samples of seropositive mothers. We observed two severe fetal outcomes
both associated with maternal admittance due to reduced fetal movements,
pathological or preterminal CTG, delivery by emergency preterm caesarean
section, and abnormal placental histopathological examinations.