key: cord-0742109-7n39b693
authors: Khoiwal, Kavita; Kalita, Deepjyoti; Kumari, Reena; Dhundi, Deepika; Shankar, Ravi; Kumari, Ranjeeta; Gaurav, Amrita; Bahadur, Anupama; Panda, Prasan Kumar; Tomy, Akhil; Chaturvedi, Jaya
title: Presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in the lower genital tract of women with active COVID‐19 infection: A prospective study
date: 2022-03-07
journal: Int J Gynaecol Obstet
DOI: 10.1002/ijgo.14153
sha: e5e31b32e3f852e81bf99e3e43e99c44cb0d21eb
doc_id: 742109
cord_uid: 7n39b693

nan

swabs was performed in all women admitted for COVID-related symptoms or gynecological conditions. Both reproductive age and postmenopausal women, with an entire range of disease severity (asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe), were included in the present study. This study is registered with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2020/09/027618) and prior approval for data collection and analysis was obtained by the Institution Ethics committee (AIIMS/IEC/20/575). Unconscious and ventilated patients who were unable to provide consent were excluded. Additionally, women who had menstrual/genital bleeding and genital infection were excluded. A vaginal sample was collected from all 61 women, while a cervical swab was collected from 38 women. The reasons for inability to collect a cervical swab were surgically absent cervices in 14 women, and atrophic cervix in 9 women (particularly those who were >65 years of age). Table 1 presents baseline and clinical characteristics of the study participants. Table 2 .

Women who had positive results through vaginal fluid had significantly lower cycle threshold (CT) values than women with negative vaginal swabs (P = 0.02). Similarly, women with positive cervical swabs had lower CT values than women with negative results (P = 0.055). Table 3 We did not find any differences in the probability of SARS-CoV-2 presence in genital samples with regards to age, parity, comorbidities, disease severity, and day of sampling. Because the time taken for SARS-CoV-2 to invade different tissues is unknown, the exact time when obtaining genital samples may have an influence on results; therefore, taking multiple samples from the same patient at a pre-specified interval would have produced more prudent results.

Well-designed studies which include evaluation of the sexual partner, and neonate of mothers who gave birth by vaginal delivery, are needed to determine the incidence of sexual transmission and mother-to-child SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

This study is part of an intramural project funded by AIIMS Rishikesh.

The authors have no conflicts of interest. 

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 detection in the female lower genital tract

SARS-CoV-2 is not detectable in the vaginal fluid of women with severe COVID-19 infection

Detection of severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in vaginal swabs of women with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection: aprospective study

Comment on the potential risks of sexual and vertical transmission of COVID-19

Identification of SARS-CoV-2 in the vaginal fluid and cervical exfoliated cells of women with active COVID-19 infection: a pilot study