• Mehmet Musa Aslan, Hilal Uslu Yuvacı, Osman Köse, Hande Toptan, Nermin Akdemir, Mehmet Köroğlu, Arif Serhan Cevrioğlu, and Selçuk Özden.
• Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sakarya Training and Research Hospital, Sakarya, Turkey.
• J. Matern. Fetal. Neonatal. Med. 2020 Jul 16: 1-3.

BackgroundData concerning the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the female genital system is scarce; however, this information is important for understanding whether the virus can transmit sexually or from mother to child. The aim of this study was to investigate whether pregnant women with COVID-19 have virus in their lower genital tract.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we present an analysis of prospectively gathered data collected at a single tertiary university hospital from 19 April to 19 May 2020. We included 13 pregnant women hospitalized with suspected COVID-19. Results of laboratory tests, imaging tests, and nucleic acid tests on vaginal swabs for SARS-CoV-2 were also analyzed for pregnant women with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19.ResultsTwelve pregnant women with confirmed COVID-19 were included in this study. Mean age was 32 ± 7.9 years. All patients had mild symptoms and were followed in the maternity ward, with none of them needing critical care unit follow-up. All lower genital tract samples were negative for SARS-CoV-2.ConclusionWe demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 was not present in the vaginal fluid of pregnant women. This finding may indicate that the female genital tract is not a route of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

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