A 32-year-old woman died of COVID-19 and doctors were unable to save her 30-week fetus in an emergency room, a Jerusalem hospital announced Sunday.
The woman, Osnat Ben Shitrit, was healthy until she recently contracted the coronavirus, and previously had four smooth pregnancies that ended in simple births, a Hadassah Medical Center spokeswoman told The Times of Israel.
The woman had not been vaccinated.
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The fetus was not infected with the virus, but was delivered in critical condition and did not survive, Hadassah said.
A COVID-19 patient receives a family visit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, February 1, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
News from Hadassah echoed in the Israeli health system, with doctors warning that it illustrates the heightened danger that the UK variant, which now accounts for nearly all Israeli COVID cases, affects pregnant women and fetuses.
While concerns recently regarding the British strain have focused on its transmissibility, not virulence, it is believed to affect pregnant women than the regular strain. Last month, as the UK variant spread, Israel approved vaccines for pregnant women and began encouraging women to get the injections.
“This news raises a red flag regarding the dangers of COVID-19 to pregnant women,” Prof. Galia Grisaru-Soen, director of the pediatric infectious diseases division at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, told The Times of Israel.
Ben Shitrit, a resident of Jerusalem, was hospitalized last Tuesday for breathlessness and began to deteriorate rapidly on Saturday night. Doctors noted damage to several of her organs, and a large team, including experts in cardiology and gynecology, gathered next to her bed.
Medical team wears safety gear while working in the coronavirus department of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospitall in Jerusalem on February 1, 2021 (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
According to a Hadassah statement, medics made “very prolonged” resuscitation attempts and performed a Caesarean section. But the mother died, and “despite tremendous efforts to save and save the life of the fetus in the early intensive care unit,” it did not survive.
Staff have been left in an “emotional storm” and the hospital “is sharing in the family’s deep grief,” the statement said.
Grisaru-Soen said: “The new variants, British and perhaps South African. seem to be more dangerous for pregnant women, and we should encourage pregnant women, at least after the first trimester, to get vaccinated. “
On Tuesday it turned out that a stillborn fetus of a woman infected with the corona virus in the city of Ashdod had the virus with her and had been infected through the placenta.
