Pregnancy

Confirmed case of transmission of Covid-19 from mother to fetus

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The Covid-19 virus was transmitted to the baby during pregnancy through the umbilical cord.


The possibility of prenatal transmission from mother to child had been considered since the beginning of the epidemic, and is now safe. In a study published Tuesday, July 14 by the journal Nature Communications, French doctors report the first confirmed case of intrauterine contamination with Covid-19.

He is a newborn baby in March who suffered from neurological symptoms associated with the disease. "We have shown that transmission from mother to fetus is possible through the placenta in the last weeks of pregnancy," Dr. Daniele De Luca, of the Antoine-Béclère Clamart hospital, and lead author of the report, told the France-Presse agency. study. And to add: "It is necessary to analyze maternal blood, amniotic fluid, newborn blood, placenta, etc. Collecting all these samples during an epidemic with emergencies in all directions was not simple, that is why it was suspected , but it was not demonstrated".

A very rare situation

At the moment, no previous study had formally demonstrated the existence of this contamination. With this birth, researchers are now confident that this transmission is possible. This study was conducted on a young woman in her twenties. After a cesarean delivery, doctors found the highest viral load in the placenta.

"It was from there through the umbilical cord to the baby, where it developed," said Dr. De Luca.

The authors of this study reveal that the newborn baby had symptoms twenty-four hours after birth, including stiff limbs and damage to the cerebral nervous system. Signs that spontaneously disappeared without any treatment. "The bad news is that it can happen. The good news is that it is rare, very rare even when the public is informed," said Dr. De Luca.

As with the rest of the population, respect for barrier gestures is essential. During pregnancy, women must maintain a social distance and wash their hands regularly.

Cited by various media, Marian Knight, a professor of maternal and child health at the University of Oxford, specifies that in several thousand cases of children born to mothers with Covid-19, no more than 2% tested positive for the virus.

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