- A new coronavirus study from Singapore indicates that babies whose mothers were infected during pregnancy are likely to be born with COVID-19 antibodies.
- The neutralizing antibodies can provide immunity from birth, although researchers cannot say what kind of protection the babies will receive or how long it will last.
- Of the 16 pregnant women in the studies, five had given birth by the time it was published, and all newborns had detectable levels of antibodies in their blood. Two women lost their babies and one of the miscarriages could have been caused by COVID-19 complications.
Neutralizing antibodies are the proteins that the immune system makes to prevent a virus from spreading. The antibodies bind to the spike protein, preventing it from infecting cells. In fact, coronavirus vaccines will teach the immune system to respond to the infection by inducing antibodies specific for COVID-19. Antibodies can disappear over time, but COVID-19 protection can last longer than that thanks to a different set of immune system components: B and T cells that patrol the blood and preserve the memory of the virus.
Researchers have no idea how long the coronavirus immunity will last, whether the protection follows infection or exposure to the virus. There is hope that immunity can last at least a year, but more time will have to pass before researchers make such decisions. However, a portion of the population may have COVID-19 immunity from the moment they are born: babies whose mothers survived the coronavirus during pregnancy.
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A few days ago, a report from Singapore said a baby was born with antibodies that can neutralize the new coronavirus. Essentially, the newborn has COVID-19 immunity straight from the womb. His mother contracted the disease early in the pandemic and early in her pregnancy. She was only 10 weeks pregnant when she was infected and gave birth to a healthy baby boy in mid-November. The mother no longer has antibodies against the corona virus, but her son does.
It was not clear at the time whether all mothers who were infected with the pathogen during pregnancy will have children with detectable antibodies against the coronavirus. The news comes from the same country, as researchers report an increasing number of babies with antibodies. Reuters reports that a new study says five babies were born to women with a COVID-19 infection, and they all have antibodies.
The study looked at 16 women and found that most of them had a mild case of COVID-19. Older women and women with a higher body mass index experienced a more severe version of the disease.
Five of them had given birth by the time the study was published, and all mothers had antibodies.
The researchers also measured antibody levels in children and found that babies whose mothers had the disease closer to the disease had higher levels of antibodies.
None of the women passed the virus to the babies, the study found. None of the pregnant women died, but two of them lost their babies. Only one of two prenatal deaths could be associated with COVID-19 complications.
The study may be limited, but the Singapore Obstetrics and Gynecology Research Network said in a statement that “the study results were reassuring.”
“This shows that the incidence and severity of COVID-19 among pregnant women parallels the general trends in the population,” said the group.
That said, researchers still warn that it is not clear what kind of protection the antibodies will give the babies, and more data is needed. Babies and children usually experience milder cases of COVID-19, but there are exceptions. The researchers will monitor the babies to see if the antibodies decrease over time. Another Reuters report on the matter points to research from China that said antibodies decreased in babies born to COVID-19 survivors.
Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby and before he knew it, he was sharing his thoughts on tech stuff with readers around the world. When not writing about gadgets, he sadly fails to stay away from them, though he desperately tries. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.