Managing neonates with respiratory failure due to SARS-CoV-2
Daniele De Luca
Published:March 06, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30073-0
In their Comment in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Jianhui Wang and colleagues1 suggested a plan to handle neonates with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections and outbreaks in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This is a timely reflection, given the public health problem represented by this infection and the need to anticipate any critical care issue, irrespective of patients' ages.
However, the plan is incomplete or unsuitable in many points. We do not know anything about neonatal SARS-CoV-2 infections, and we must reasonably follow data from adult critical care. First, testing all NICU-admitted neonates for SARS-CoV-2 represents a wrongful use of resources. Neonatal respiratory failure can result from a wide range of causes, and testing everybody when other causes are reasonably suspected will divert laboratory resources from adult critical care. Tests should be done for infants from families infected by SARS-CoV-2 or exposed to other infected people, irrespective of their symptoms.