Page 48 - Retail Pharmacy Magazine October 2020

46 PRE AND POSTNATAL “In general, babies with Covid-19 have remained well and not required extra care.” FROM PAGE 45 “It’s very different to previous issues, such as SARS \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[severe acute respiratory syndrome\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\], swine flu and bird flu ... \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[where\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] the mortality was quite alarming – if you were pregnant and you caught SARS, the mortality rate was nearly 50 per cent,” he said, adding that if a pregnant woman catches Covid-19, the symptoms and severity experienced are not greater, which he says is “fantastic”. Dr Tal Jacobson, from Brisbane women’s health clinic Eve Health, which specialises in fertility, gynaecology and obstetrics, agrees, adding that “currently there’s no information that pregnant women are at greater risk of becoming infected or becoming unwell if they do become infected”. He adds that there is also “no evidence of increased risk of miscarriage or other pregnancy complications” with Covid-19. However, Dr Moffrey explains that, as with flu, it may depend on where the mum is at in terms of the trimester. “If you caught \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[Covid-19\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] in the first trimester,” he said, “there’ve been a few case reports of people having such high fevers and being so respiratory compromised, they’ve had a miscarriage, but ... we have the same issue with \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[mums who\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] catch influenza A in the first trimester, because of such high fevers.” He adds that given this is the case, there is no great risk of experiencing pregnancy complications with Covid-19. In terms of what the experts call ‘vertical transmission’ – that is, passing on Covid-19 from mum to baby – according to Dr Moffrey, “there’s been only one report”, in France, of a baby being delivered and testing “positive for Covid-19 straight away”. “But that’s the only case that I’m aware of – of actual vertical transmission, out of hundreds that have been reported so far,” he said. “There’ve been a lot of cases where pregnant women who’ve caught it \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[Covid-19\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] – they’ve swabbed the baby, they’ve swabbed the amniotic fluid, they’ve tested the placenta and there’s actually no signs of vertical transmission.” Dr Jacobson adds that while there may be a “small risk of vertical transmission from mother to baby ... in general, babies with Covid-19 have remained well and not required extra care”. Although reassurance is sought to ease the undercurrent of anxiety we’re all living with – particularly for mums and pregnant women – being careful to avoid catching the virus remains very important because prevention is always better than cure. “All the routine precautions apply,” Dr Jacobson said. “Regular hand sanitisation, avoid touching your face, social distancing, work from home if possible, a low threshold for mask wearing.” Dr Moffrey added: “If you’re pregnant and you’re in a high-risk job such as a healthcare worker or teacher, you should be trying to step back from frontline duties, because there’s still that small risk. So, while we think everything is fine, prevention is better than treatment, obviously.” Changes to appointments Pregnancy requires regular medical appointments as the nine months progress, to ensure the health of mum and baby. While some changes have been implemented during the pandemic in some hospitals (mainly public health), for the most part within private health appointments, the procedure is “pretty much as normal”, according to Dr Moffrey, albeit with increased precautionary measures. “There’s actually quite a big difference between a public patient and a private patient,” he said. “Public patients have actually gone quite a way from hospital appointments. They’re doing a lot of telehealth, but ... a lot of pregnancies \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[are being referred back\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] to the GPs for share care. Whereas in private health, we’re continuing pretty much as normal. “We’re doing a little bit of telehealth but I, especially personally, feel that the importance of getting a blood pressure RETAIL PHARMACY • OCT 2020