Perinatal infection as a cause for stillbirth

According to statistics, 10-25% of perinatal death in high-income countries are caused by congenital infections, being dominated by ascending infections.The aim of this study was to review how many of examined perinatal death cases in last year in Children Clinical University Hospital (CCHU) were caused by congenital infections and to identify incidence specific causes such as TORCH infections. Hospital records of all perinatal autopsies in CCHU between January 1st and December 31st, 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical and histological data were obtained from medical records and analyzed using MS Excel. In total 114 autopsies on perinatal death patients were performed in CCHU during year 2020. Out of these, 22% (n=25) were excluded for miscellaneous reasons, leaving 89 (78%) cases to include in this report. Out of these 89 cases 17% (n=15) were deemed to be caused by congenital infections. 13 cases were common pneumonias, caused by ascending infection and infected amniotic water aspiration. 7% (n=1) was a case of congenital listeriosis and 7% (n=1) was caused by congenital CMV infection. Most common cause of congenital infections was identified as ascending infection causing aspiration pneumonia. Overall occurrence of Perinatal death caused by congenital infections falls within common statistical category.