Research indicates compelling evidence of SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission as a result of placental pathology. Background: This study offers an approach on histopathological and immunohistochemical placental observations from SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers compared negative ones. Methods: Out of 44 examined placentas, 24 were collected from patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and 20 without infection. Results: The disease group showed strong SARS-CoV-2 positivity of the membranes, trophoblast and fetal villous macrophages. Most infections occurred during the third trimester of pregnancy (66.6%). Pathology revealed areas consistent with avascular villi (AV), thrombi in the chorionic vessels and umbilical cord in the positive group, suggesting fetal vascular malperfusion (FVM). Other observed features included infarction (17%), perivillous fibrin deposition (29%), intervillous fibrin (25%), delayed placental maturation (8.3%), chorangiosis (13%), chorioamnionitis (8.3%) and meconium (21%). The negative control group revealed only one case of placental infarction (5%), intervillous fibrin (5%), delayed placental maturation (5%), chorioamnionitis (5%) and two cases of meconium (19%). Our results were consistent with literature. Conclusions: This study shows SARS-CoV-2 has an impact on coagulation, demonstrated by fetal thrombotic vasculopathy (p=0.01) and fibrin deposition (p=0.01). Further research is necessary to establish whether SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of vascular pathologies during pregnancy.

During the last decades, a growing number of studies have shown that infections during pregnancy have an important impact on both pregnant women and their fetuses. Our goal was to identify newborns from pregnancies with SARS-CoV-2 infection and to investigate the extension of neonatal complications using cardiac, abdominal and cerebral ultrasonography, hearing testing and indirect ophthalmoscopy. By contrast, neonates whose mothers were vaccinated against COVID-19 during pregnancy and those from pathology-free pregnancies have been examined. A total of 458 newborns were included, over a period of 10 months, divided into 3 groups, COVID-19 group, vaccine group and control group. Although 6 cardiac malformations were found in the COVID-19 group, no correlation was made compared to the vaccine and control group (p=0.07). Grade 1 intraventricular hemorrhage and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy were the most prevalent among neonates from mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection (p=0.002 and p<0.001, respectively). The kidney anomaly found to be most frequent in this group was grade 1 unilateral hydronephrosis (p<0.001). COVID-19 disease during the gestational period had no effect on the auditory or visual function. Despite the fact that our observations are relevant, further studies investigating the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and the neonatal outcomes are necessary.

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) treatment is an alternative to erythrocyte transfusions in neonates with anemia of prematurity (AOP). This study assesses the impact of rhEPO administration within the first week of life on the incidence of AOP (any stage, individual AOP stages, and red-blood-cell (RBC) transfusions. Out of 108 preterm neonates, 49 were administered rhEPO and compared to the remaining group using univariate and multivariate analyses. Univariately, gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), and RBC levels, and iron administration were significantly associated to AOP (p<0.05 each); however, only the latter remained significant after adjusting for covariates (AOR: 2.75, 95% CI, 1.06–7.11). Multinomial analysis revealed rhEOP therapy was associated with a near 3-fold reduction in moderate AOP incidence (OR: 0.36, 95% CI, 0.15–0.89). Furthermore, ANCOVA revealed positive correlations between rhEPO administration and 21-day Hb (p<0.01), HCT (p<0.05), and EPO (p<0.001) levels. The results confirm previously reported benefits of rhEPO treatment, such as reduced moderate AOP incidence and increased Hb, HCT, and serum EPO levels.

Background: Neonatal sepsis associated with severe morbidity and mortality defines the systemic condition arising from the bacterial, viral, fungal origin associated with hemodynamic and clinical alterations. Symptomatology can be different, from subclinical to severe, focal or systemic disease. The causal agent comes from maternal flora or can be of community/hospital origin. Material and method: Our retrospective study evaluated 121 newborns (both preterm and term), divided into three groups: early onset sepsis (35), late onset sepsis (39), and control group (47), from 0 to 28 days old. Blood samples and cultures were collected at admission, after 24 hours, and 72 hours. Results: The two-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test revealed a statistically significant difference between the initial and final measures of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and ferritin within the early onset sepsis (EOS) and late onset sepsis (LOS) groups. No significant differences were observed for those two variables within the control group. There were significant differences for first and last measurements of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) (p = 0.029), leukocyte count (p = 0.002), and platelets (TR) (p = 0.00001). Conclusions: Ferritin is a potential biomarker that can be associated with systemic response and sepsis in both cases of early and late onset sepsis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about its impact on maternal and neonatal health. This study aimed to investigate the influence of maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy on neonatal inflammatory parameters. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at Premiere Hospital in Timisoara between May 2021 and January 2022. Participants were categorized into two groups: the COVID-19 positive group, consisting of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in-fection during pregnancy, and the control group, which comprised COVID-19-free pregnant women. The primary outcome was the assessment of inflammatory markers (NLR, dNLR, PLR, and SII) in neonates born to mothers with COVID-19. The results suggest that maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy significantly impacts certain neonatal inflammatory parameters. Spe-cifically, newborns exposed to maternal COVID-19 exhibited elevated white blood cell counts, particularly when infection occurred during the first trimester. Lymphocyte counts were dimin-ished in neonates born to COVID-19-positive mothers, irrespective of infection trimester. Gesta-tional age played a role in altering neonatal immune profiles, with correlations observed between GA and parameters in the Control Group (COVID-19 negative during pregnancy). However, the influence of neonatal immunoreactivity on laboratory parameters remained generally non-significant after adjusting for GA and infection trimester. In conclusion, maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy has a discernible impact on neonatal inflammatory parameters, in-cluding WBC and lymphocyte counts, which may have clinical implications.