Irish health authorities are investigating whether four cases of stillbirths are linked to the coronavirus outbreak, the country’s deputy medical director, Ronan Glynn, said on Thursday.
At a news conference in Dublin, Glynn said “four preliminary reports of stillbirths potentially associated with a disease called Covid placentis” were being pursued by authorities.
According to the medical examiners who reported the cases, the pregnant women tested positive for coronavirus and then gave birth to a newborn baby whose cause of death was a placental infection.
“More research needs to be done” before the results can be confirmed, Glynn said, adding that he could not “provide too many details because there is not much more at this stage,” because the law has not concluded its conclusions.
Covid placenta is “a concern,” but “very rare,” he said. The condition is seen in women who have had positive coronavirus tests before having a stillbirth.
“We haven’t seen a high incidence of it internationally and we wouldn’t expect to see a high incidence of it here,” Glynn told reporters.
In a statement, Dr. Cliona Murphy, president of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said a small number of cases are “scientifically researched.”
“It is important that pregnant women who test positive for Covid attend meetings with their healthcare providers in the weeks after the infection,” Murphy said.
“The vast majority of pregnant women who had Covid had mild symptoms and no side effects. Large-scale surveillance data in the UK did not show a higher incidence of stillbirths.
“Pregnant women in priority groups can be vaccinated. US data on COVID vaccines during pregnancy are reassuring,” she added.
“We are beginning to see the impact of COVID vaccines, which, together with restrictions, reduce the incidence of COVID-19 infections in the community, which will be protective for pregnant women.”
According to the latest official figures, the Republic of Ireland has recorded 4,396 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic. The country is currently in the middle of a third blockade, after suffering the highest per capita infection rate in the world in early January.