Maternal and infant death after probable vertical transmission of chikungunya virus in Brazil – case report

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 333 - 5
• Main Authors: Oliveira, Rhaquel de Morais Alves Barbosa, Barreto, Francisca Kalline de Almeida, Maia, Ana Maria Peixoto Cabral, Gomes, Ileana Pitombeira, Simião, Adriana Rocha, Barbosa, Rebeca Bandeira, Rodrigues, Adilina Soares Romeiro, Lopes, Kilma Wanderley, Araújo, Fernanda Montenegro de Carvalho, do Vale, Regina Lúcia Sousa, Cavalcante, John Washington, Cavalcanti, Luciano Pamplona de Góes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 16.07.2018; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Arbovirus infection; Brazil; Cardiac arrhythmia; Case Report; Case reports; Causes of; Cesarean Section; Chikungunya Fever - complications; Chikungunya Fever - transmission; Chikungunya virus; Complications and side effects; Congenital diseases; Continuous positive airway pressure; Culicidae; Deaths; Diabetes; Disease transmission; Dyspnea; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Fatal Outcome; Female; Fever; Gangrene; Gestational Age; Health aspects; Hemodialysis; Hemorrhage; Humans; Hypertension; Infant mortality; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Infections; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; Infectious Diseases; Influenza; Internal Medicine; Laboratories; Male; Maternal mortality; Medical Microbiology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mother and infant; Mothers; Parasitology; Patient outcomes; Perinatal Death; Pre-Eclampsia - virology; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - virology; Pregnant women; Respiratory distress syndrome; Surveillance; Tropical Medicine; Vector-borne diseases; Ventilators; Vertical transmission; Viral diseases; Viruses; Brazil; Colombia; Deaths; Vertical transmission; Arbovirus infection; Chikungunya virus
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-018-3243-1

Background Chikungunya virus infection in neonates is relatively rare and can lead to death. Case presentation We report the occurrence of the first death of a mother and child after probable vertical transmission of chikungunya virus in Brazil. A 28-year-old pregnant woman with hypertension presented with symptoms compatible with an arboviral disease at 34 weeks’ gestation. She developed preeclampsia with severe respiratory failure which resulted in the emergency cesarean section, and the patient died 12 days after the onset of symptoms. The pre-term newborn weighed 2535 g, with an Apgar score of 4/8. He was referred to the neonatal ICU with neutrophilia and thrombocytopenia, several seizure episodes, and hemorrhagic disorders, which resulted in death. Chikungunya IgM antibody was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid. Conclusions We present the first documented maternal and neonatal death in Brazil after probable chikungunya infection during pregnancy.