Research report that baby was infected with coronavirus in utero

Researchers on Tuesday reported strong evidence that the coronavirus could be transmitted From pregnant woman to fetus..

A baby born to a Covid-19 mother, born in a hospital in Paris in March, was virus-positive and had brain inflammation, said Daniele De Luca, head of the pediatrics team leading the research team. Newborn Emergency Medical Care at Paris Sacre University Hospital. Babies over the age of 3 months recovered without treatment and were “very improved and nearly clinically normal,” said Deluca, adding that the mother who needed oxygen during labor was healthy. It was

Dr Luca said the virus appeared to have transmitted through the placenta of a 23-year-old mother.

There have been isolated cases of newborns who have tested positive for coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, but there is insufficient evidence to rule out that the mother may have been infected after the baby was born, experts said. It was Recently published Texas caseProvided more compelling evidence that a newborn baby who tested positive for Covid-19 and had mild respiratory symptoms could be infected with the virus during pregnancy.

In the Paris case, the team said they were able to test placenta, amniotic fluid, cord blood, and mother and baby blood.

Tests have shown that the virus reaches the placenta and replicates there. It can then be transmitted to the fetus and “infect it, causing the same symptoms as adult Covid-19 patients.”

A study of the case was published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

Dr. Joel Sadovsky, executive director of the Maggie Women’s Research Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the study, said the placental allegations were “pretty persuasive.” He found evidence of placental inflammation along with the relatively high levels of coronavirus and baby virus levels found in the placenta, and baby symptoms, “all were consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection. There is.”

Still, it is important to note that Dr. Sadovsky seems to be very rare in cases of possible coronavirus infection in utero. Placental infections and transmissions are much more common with other viruses, including deer and rubella, he said. Regarding coronaviruses, “We are trying to understand the opposite. What underlies the relative protection of the fetus and placenta?”

Another study Articles published on Tuesday by eLife, an online research journal, may help answer that question. Placental cells contain many receptor proteins that allow the virus to grow, but are important cell surface receptors known to be involved in allowing coronavirus entry And there was evidence that there was only a “negligible” amount of enzyme in the cell and replication. The study was led by Dr. Robert Romero, head of the Perinatal Research Unit at Eunice Kennedy Shriver. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

A doctor in Paris reported that she had been pregnant for 35 weeks when she came to the hospital with a fever and cough. She was positive for coronavirus. Three days later, fetal heart monitoring showed signs of distress and the baby was delivered by an emergency Caesarean section.

The infants were placed in a neonatal intensive care unit and connected to a ventilator for approximately 6 hours, the authors report. He seemed to be doing well, but on the third day he was irritated, had feeding problems and had muscle cramps and stiffness.

Brain scans showed some damage to the white matter, which is similar to the symptoms of meningitis and inflammation of the brain, Dr. Luka said. The authors were negative for other viral or bacterial infections that may have caused such symptoms, but tested positive for coronavirus infections in fluids from his blood and lungs. The authors said. The baby gradually recovered and was discharged 18 days later.

The authors noted that the highest levels of coronavirus were found in the placenta and were higher than amniotic fluid and blood in mothers and babies, suggesting that the virus may be able to replicate in the placenta.

Dr. Delka, who is also the president-elect of the European Academy of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care, said his team is analyzing other cases of suspected placental coronavirus infection.

“This will help clinicians and policy makers to manage pregnant women, check for newborns, and reduce the risk of viral transmission from mothers to newborns,” he added. Despite this, the good news is that the baby recovered naturally and gradually, confirming that the disease was milder in infancy.”