20-year-old Nuha Abu Siam died of COVID-19 on Thursday, October 8, nearly a month after she gave birth to her second child, while she was already positive for the disease.
Abu Siam, an otherwise healthy young woman with no background illnesses from Rahat, was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Soroka for a C section surgery. After the birth, her son was tested and found to be negative for the virus.
When connected to a monitor, doctors identified fetal distress and she was rushed to the operating room when she was 37 weeks old. A few days after the birth, her condition deteriorated. She was resuscitated and later connected to the Acmo (heart-lung machine).
Prof. Reli Hershkovich, chairwoman of the obstetrics and gynecology division at Soroka and director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the hospital, said in a statement after Abu Siam was hospitalized that "since the outbreak of the pandemic, mothers throughout the country who have been diagnosed as positive for Coronavirus, for the most part, have not developed any symptoms or serious illness."
"This is definitely a rare case in which a young and generally healthy woman, without background illnesses, is in a serious condition after being infected with the virus," she added.
Dr. Uri Galanta, a senior physician in the Coronavirus Intensive Care Unit, said of the incident that "recently we have seen an increase in both the number of younger patients than in the 'first wave' and in more difficult patients. Some have no background illnesses, as in this case, which emphasizes that it is not always possible to know who will develop a life-threatening serious illness." "We all have a civic responsibility in adhering to the guidelines of wearing masks and preventing large gatherings," he added.