Covid 19 and Pregnancy(part 2)
Covid-19 is especially dangerous late in pregnancy, and the post-partum period after birth. Statistics vary by country depending on base rates, but in South Africa deaths among pregnant women increased 35% to 40% in the initial waves of SARS-2. As with others, the risk of severe Covid outcomes is higher among those with comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.
In the United States Covid-related maternal mortality is approximately 70% higher in pregnant women than in non-pregnant women. The Covid risks to pregnancy include more miscarriages, still births, and preterm births. According to the July 2021 medical journal Lancet Regional Health – Americas, overall, there is a 10% increase in early births, a 40% increase in preterm births and a 60% increase in very preterm births. The immune reaction to SARS-2 also increases chances of childhood developmental disorders, including delays to foetal development of the heart and lungs. In a small percentage of cases Covid damages the placenta, reducing the oxygen supply to the foetus. That may trigger foetal death or a stillborn birth. The risk of stillborn birth increased 50% early in the pandemic. Then it rose to four times normal with Delta.
Pregnant women are three times as likely to become severely ill and require intensive care in the ICU compared to non-pregnant women. One study reported that 5% of pregnant women are hospitalized, 2% land in the ICU, with at least 1% requiring ventilation. Delta variant increased the rate of death from just one-half-of-one percent to 2.5% of pregnant women in America with Covid, a 500% increase. These statistics vary greatly by country. What appears constant is that approximately 75% of pregnancy-related deaths from Covid occur in the weeks following childbirth - after pregnancy. As has been demonstrated with other deadly viral infections, a high daily dose of selenium should greatly reduce that mortality rate. Selenium is a natural antiviral element. It inhibits a human protein called NF-kB that plays a primary role in increasing both inflammation and viral replication. That makes this mineral a broad-spectrum antiviral that helps reduce the impact of most viruses that make us sick, including HIV, Ebola, SARS-2, influenza-A, Hantavirus, and numerous others. As the key element required for the immune system to function properly, selenium also benefits several ways in pregnancy.
Selenium supplements improve both male and female fertility. Early in pregnancy, added selenium reduces the incidence or severity of morning sickness. Because selenium helps reduce the occurrence and impact of viral infection during pregnancy, it reduces the frequency of birth defects caused by damage to cellular DNA during infection. This also reduces miscarriages.
In the third trimester, higher levels of selenium reduce premature births and preeclampsia - high blood pressure during pregnancy. The increased number of premature births in Covid is likely due to the selenium deficiency the virus causes. 100% of those with severe Covid or that die are deficient in selenium. Supplementing selenium back into a person may be the key to reducing mortalities caused by rapid selenium depletion due to intensive replication. With Covid-19, and now Covid-21-Omicron, it is too soon to know what the future holds for children born during these pandemic times. Will different variants provoke different long-term effects? No one knows. It may be years before long-term damage to childhood development can be finally determined, or if lifelong diseases result from pregnancies during this pandemic. Every mother wants a perfect child. No mother wants to suffer the ultimate price in childbirth or shortly thereafter. Boosting maternal reserves of protective selenium will not prevent all possible problems in pregnancy, or all deaths. It should significantly reduce them – Covid or no Covid. Howard Armstead is an AIDS, Ebola, and Covid-19 researcher. He is Director of the Selenium Education and Research Centre (SERC) in Johannesburg. For more information visit winagainstcorona.com.