Anesthetic Management of Pregnant Patients with Infectious Disease

Fever is often the result of an infection. The most common sites for infection during pregnancy are fetal membranes, urinary and respiratory tracts, and the postpartum uterine cavity. The most frequent etiologies of intrapartum fever are chorioamnionitis and neuraxial anesthesia. Maternal and fetal exposure to hyperthermia and inflammation is associated with adverse consequences for the mother and the neonate. In pregnant women with fever, anesthesiologists are not only involved in providing analgesia, but also in the correct anesthetic management for the surgical treatment of the infectious region. Thus, as pyrexia may change both obstetric and anesthetic management, preventing maternal fever is imperative. Emerging and challenging infectious diseases, as COVID-19, remind us of the susceptible nature of pregnant and early postpartum women to severe respiratory infections, reinforcing the importance of vaccines and therapeutic measures during pregnancy.