Pregnant women with Covid-19 MAY give protective antibodies against the coronavirus to their child, study finds
- American researchers studied more than 1,700 blood samples from mother and baby
- 83 of these mothers had antibodies against the coronavirus in their system
- 72 (8%) of the babies born to infected mothers also had antibodies to Covid
Pregnant women infected with the coronavirus may be able to give protective antibodies to their unborn baby, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Philadelphia found that Covid antibodies can pass into the unborn baby’s placenta if the mother contracts the virus during pregnancy.
The findings are a good sign for concerned expectant parents, but the researchers say they cannot claim with certainty that the newborn of an infected mother is “absolutely safe” from Covid-19 because the science is still developing.
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Pregnant women infected with coronavirus may give their unborn baby protective antibodies, new study suggests
The study looked for antibodies in the mother’s blood samples and in umbilical cord blood – from the placenta and the attached umbilical cord – immediately after delivery.
Cord blood is an accurate representation of the newborn’s blood at the time of birth.
Out of 1,471 women in the study, which ran between April 9 and August 8 last year, 83 women tested positive for Covid-19 and antibodies were found in the umbilical cord blood of 72 (87 percent) of their babies.
Eleven babies of Covid positive mothers who did not have antibodies tested negative for the virus.
“In this cohort study, maternal antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were transmitted across the placenta following both asymptomatic and symptomatic infection during pregnancy,” the researchers write in their study, published in JAMA Paediatrics.
The researchers also found that the baby inherited more antibodies if the mother had a large number of antibodies, while a mother with only a small number of immune cells would pass less on to her child.
Corresponding author Dr. Karen Puopolo said, “This finding must be put in the context of the fact that SARS-CoV-2 is a new virus.
Therefore, the time between exposure to the maternal virus and the birth of the newborn in our study was never longer than three to four months, and in most cases it was shorter than that.
But there must also be enough time between the mother’s infection and delivery so that the mother can make the type of antibodies that cross the placenta and that crossing can take place.
“We found that if the time between exposure to the maternal virus and delivery was at least two to three weeks, we could detect antibodies in the newborn.”
Researchers from Philadelphia found that Covid antibodies can pass into the unborn baby’s placenta if the mother contracts the virus during pregnancy (stock)
Researchers said their findings support the potential of maternal antibodies to protect their newborns from coronavirus infections.
Dr. Puopolo said, ‘Our results mean that maternal antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 can efficiently cross the placenta, and therefore our results demonstrate the potential of such maternal antibodies to provide neonatal protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
“Nothing about our work should change the way we currently care for pregnant women and their newborns. Our work cannot tell a woman that her newborn baby is absolutely safe from COVID-19.
“It remains to be seen what levels and types of antibodies protect newborns against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and how long those antibodies can persist in the neonatal circulation.”