The new coronavirus vertical transmission

a scope review

Abstract

Coronavirus 2 (CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, was discovered in December 2019 in an outbreak in the city of Wuhan, China. The virus is the seventh coronavirus, has a high transmissible power and has become a global public health emergency. Since then, research on the mode of transmission, prevention and treatment has started in search of disease control. Objective: To investigate possible cases of vertical transmission of the new coronavirus in newborns. Methodology: This is a scope review, carried out from April 10 to 25, 2020 throughout the Virtual Health Library. Results: Five articles were included for the scope review. All of them were published in 2020, three were developed in China, one in Sweden and one in the United States. All the articles showed negative results for vertical transmission based on nucleic acid tests and the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test, using samples of amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood, breast milk, placental tissue, in addition to gastric juice, urine, feces, pharyngeal and rectal swab of neonates. Conclusions: Despite of the confirmed cases of the infection caused by the new coronavirus in newborns and the possibility of vertical transmission, there is currently insufficient evidence to prove this hypothesis.