Pregnant women ‘unlikely to pass on Covid-19 to their baby’

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Pregnant women who contract Covid-19 in their third trimester are unlikely to pass it on to their unborn babies, research shows.

  • Researchers studied and followed 64 pregnant women who had Covid
  • None of their babies have been infected with the coronavirus after birth
  • Also no coronavirus was found in the placenta of the baby

By Joe Pinkstone for Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Pregnant women who contract the coronavirus don’t pass it on to their unborn children, data from a new study shows.

US researchers followed 64 women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, between April 2 and June 13.

None of the babies tested positive for Covid-19 after they were born, and no coronavirus was detected in the placenta.

Although Harvard academics warn that the small sample size makes it impossible to rule out some pregnant women passing the virus on to their children, it shows that pregnancy’s natural defenses ward off the virus, they say.

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US researchers followed 64 women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, between April 2 and June 13. None of the babies tested positive for Covid-19 (stock)

US researchers followed 64 women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, between April 2 and June 13. None of the babies tested positive for Covid-19 (stock)

The expectant mothers were all in their third trimester and had the virus in their lungs, nose, and throat, but not in their bloodstream or placenta.

Other data, including information on women who contracted the virus earlier in their pregnancy, will be published soon, the researchers say.

The latest study was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in Washington DC.

The expectant mothers were all in their third trimester and had the virus in their lungs, nose, and throat, but not in their bloodstream or placenta. Other data, including information on women who contracted the virus earlier in their pregnancy, will be published soon (stock)

The expectant mothers were all in their third trimester and had the virus in their lungs, nose and throat, but not in their bloodstream or placenta. Other data, including information on women who contracted the virus earlier in their pregnancy, will be published soon (stock)

Children are more likely to catch the mutant Covid variant than the original species

Children may be more at risk of contracting the new mutant coronavirus variant than any previous strain, government advisers claimed yesterday.

Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist from Imperial College London and a member of No10’s NERVTAG advisory group, said there was a ‘hint’ that children – barely affected by the pandemic so far – were more susceptible to the mutation.

Known as ‘Professor Lockdown’, the academic was instrumental in the UK’s March restrictions, but quit his advisory position at SAGE after showing off the guidance he helped implement to visit his married lover.

He said it’s possible that the surge of the new variant, called B.1.1.7, could have happened during the November lockdown – which occurred during school hours – because the variant is better at infecting children than previous SARS- CoV-2. iterations.

Researchers believe the new strain of virus, which Matt Hancock says is “ getting out of control, ” is between 50 and 70 percent more contagious, but don’t believe it is more deadly or causes more serious illness in adults or children.

Dr. Diana Bianchi, director of the NICHD, said: ‘This study provides some assurance that SARS-CoV-2 infections are unlikely to pass through the placenta to the fetus during the third trimester, but more research needs to be done to confirm this finding . . ‘

Of those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the study, 23 were asymptomatic, 22 had mild illness, seven had moderate illness, ten had severe illness, and three had critical illness.

In addition to those who tested positive, an additional 63 pregnant women who were COVID negative and 11 women who were not pregnant were included in the study for comparison.

The researchers found that the risk of decreased blood flow in the placenta was higher in women who suffered the worst cases of the disease.

They also saw lower than expected levels of protective antibodies in the umbilical cord blood, but much higher levels of influenza-specific antibodies.

This, they say, may be due to the flu shot and suggests that COVID antibodies are not passing through the placenta, as well as antibodies that target other viruses.

The results also showed that only very low levels of COVID antibodies reached the unborn child, raising more questions about possible immunity.

The author of the study, Dr. Andrea Edlow, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said, “ It will be important to determine why these maternal antibodies are less likely to cross the placenta and whether these decreased antibody transmission to newborns. more vulnerable to SARS. CoV-2 infection, compared to other infections.

It will be important to determine how lower levels of maternal SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may affect preterm infants’ health outcomes, as COVID-19 may increase the risk of preterm birth.

The findings are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Covid-19 can rarely cause PARALYSIS in children

Coronavirus infection can cause paralysis in children in very rare cases, a new study reveals.

Researchers at the University of Manchester looked at neurological symptoms in 38 unusual cases of Covid-19 in young people under the age of 18.

SARS-CoV-2 has previously been found to cause neurological problems in adult patients, with delirium and strokes among the reported problems.

But very little scientific research has been done on the neurological implications of Covid-19 in children.

A total of 38 children who tested positive for the infection were assessed in the specialist study who were hospitalized in eight countries.

The cases were found after a worldwide call for unusual Covid cases in children was issued by the American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology.

Thirteen were from France, eight from the UK, five from the US, four from Brazil, four from Argentina, two from India, one from Peru and one from Saudi Arabia.

Eight of the children did not have any respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath or cough, as is typically associated with Covid-19.

Four children in the study died after contracting another infection, such as TB and MRSA, after Covid-19 made them more susceptible.

And two of the young people in the study remained paralyzed after the virus reached their spinal cords and caused inflammation.

One of the children became quadriplegic and had to use a ventilator to breathe through a tracheostomy. The child will also receive a gastrostomy tube in the stomach.

The second child is also dependent on ventilation with a tracheostomy, as they cannot breathe on their own and have a tube in their stomach to feed them.

This child also has dysautonomia, a condition that prevents them from controlling their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, bladder function and temperature, for example.

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