Updated / Tuesday, 13 Apr 2021
17:34
The results indicate a link to the B117 variant of Covid
Six cases of stillbirth and one case of second trimester miscarriage have been caused by Covid-19 since January, according to the RCPI Faculty of Pathology and the Institute of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists.
A statement released this afternoon said: There have been six cases of stillbirth and one case of second trimester miscarriage caused by SARS-CoV2 placentitis since January 2021 in Ireland. The six cases are on a background of a total of 11 cases of SARS-CoV2 placentitis identified in Ireland since the start of the pandemic. Results to date, from the babies deaths, indicate a link with the B117 variant of concern which may explain why this finding was not a significant feature of the 1st and 2nd waves in 2020.
The director of the HSE's National Women and Infants Programme has said it is "more important" that pregnant women protect themselves from Covid-19 than the rest of the population, but he does not think all pregnant women should be automatically vaccinated.
Move pregnant women up vaccine list, says master of Rotunda Information on stillbirths ‘very much preliminary’, further evidence required – HSE
Fri, Mar 5, 2021, 09:07 Updated: Fri, Mar 5, 2021, 11:05
The HSE issued an alert after coroners identified coronavirus infection of the placenta as a factor in four stillbirths in January and February
The master of the Rotunda, Prof Fergal Malone has repeated a call for pregnant women to be moved up the vaccination priority list.
“Putting them at the end of the queue is not a good thing,” said Prof Malone on Friday morning.
Prof Malone was commenting after a number of stillbirths among women with Covid-19 prompted separate alerts from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Institute of Obstetricians. The HSE alert was issued on Thursday after coroners identified coronavirus infection of the placenta as a factor in four still births in January and February.
Two of the stillbirths were included in Nphet’s daily mortality figures on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, while international experience showed it was “not unusual” for Covid-19 to cause placental infection, stillbirth was an “unusual complication”, Prof Peter McKenna, head of the HSE women and infants health programme, told The Irish Times.
The fact four stillbirths had occurred in a short time and among the small population of women with Covid-19 had raised concerns, prompting the HSE to issue the alert, he said.
Despite the absence of international evidence for Covid-related stillbirth, it was decided to issue the alert on a precautionary basis.
10 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Clare this evening with 462 new cases confirmed nationwide. Clare’s incidence rate of 146.4 per 100,000 people is the tenth lowest in the country. The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 39 additional deaths related to COVID-19. 10 of these deaths occurred in March, 12 occurred in February, 13 […]