41st World Seminar on COVID-19 (Part VII)
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Accepted Abstracts

Is There a Relationship between COVID-19 Infection and the Occurrence of Anencephaly? Observation of the Maternity of Mohammed the VI University Hospital of Marrakech

Bouchra Fakhir, Mohamed Hicham Abdelkhalki*, Yassir Ait Benkaddour, Karam Harrou, Ahlam Bassir, Abderrahim Aboulfalah, Hamid Asmouki, Abderraouf Soummani et al
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.

Citation: 
Fakhir B, Abdelkhalki MH, Benkaddour YA, Harrou K, Bassir A et al (2023) Is There a Relationship between COVID-19 Infection and the Occurrence of Anencephaly? Observation of the Maternity of Mohammed the VI University Hospital of Marrakech. SciTech Central COVID-19.

Received: July 07, 2023         Accepted: July 10, 2023         Published: July 10, 2023

Abstract

Introduction: Morocco has experienced, like the whole world, the COVID-19 pandemic. A subjective observation of the increase in the number of anencephaly lead us to conduct an observational study in order to see the relation between the pandemic and the occurrence of anencephaly. Since the teratogenic potential of the SARS Cov 2 virus and the physiopathology of anencephaly is not well documented, this work takes on its full importance.
Aim: the objective of the study is to look for eventual relation between the occurrence of anencephaly and the pandemic.
Material and methods: This is a retrospective study (from June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2022 in the Obstetrics Gynecology department, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, CADI AYYAD UNIVERSITY Marrakech Morocco) consisting of the analysis of the number of patients in the target embryonic period (namely the closure of the neural tube: D18 to D30 of embryonic life) compared to the reference curves of the evolution of the SARS Cov2 pandemic.
Results: The analysis of the number of patients at the target embryonic phase shows that many of our anencephalons (63%) were conceived during periods of high diffusion of the SARS Cov 2 virus in Morocco.
Conclusion: Our study suggests a relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and the occurrence of anencephaly, we cannot, however, highlight the type of direct or indirect relationship that binds them. Therefore, further studies should be considered to better investigate this relationship. 
Keywords: Anencephaly, Closure Neural Tube Anomaly, COVID-19, SARS Cov2, Malformation, Pandemic