The first confirmed case of a mother passing the coronavirus to her unborn baby was reported in France, according to a case study published Tuesday.
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French doctors said in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications that a 23-year-old woman was admitted to the Antoine Béclère hospital in Paris with a fever and cough when she was more than 35 weeks pregnant.
© Charles Krupa, AP
In this Thursday, May 7, 2020 file photo, a pregnant woman wearing a face mask and gloves holds her belly as she waits in line to buy food with hundreds during a Healthy Waltham-sponsored food pantry for those in need due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, at St. Mary’s Church in Waltham, Mass.
She tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and gave birth to her baby by cesarean section. The presence of the virus was also found in the boy.
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Doctors found evidence of inflammation in the newborn’s brain caused by the coronavirus. They believe the virus had infected the baby’s bloodstream through the placenta.
“The placenta showed signs of acute and chronic intervillous inflammation consistent with the severe systemic maternal inflammatory state caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the authors of the case study said.
After testing positive, the newborn recovered and was discharged from the hospital 18 days later.
Doctors say the newborn was immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit after birth, prompting doctors to rule out the possibility that he might have contracted the virus after birth.
While this is the first confirmed case of mother-to-baby transmission of the coronavirus through the uterus, previous studies have suggested that it was possible.
In July, researchers from Italy said they studied 31 women with COVID-19 who gave birth in March and April. They found signs of the virus in several blood samples from the umbilical cord, the placenta and, in one case, breast milk.
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The study involved women from three hospitals during the height of the outbreak in northern Italy. The researchers also found specific antibodies against the coronavirus in the umbilical cord blood and milk.
Since the start of the pandemic, doctors have wondered if an infection in the uterus could occur. HIV, Zika, and some other viruses can infect the fetus in this way. Several initial reports from China suggested that the coronavirus may also do so, although doctors suspect that these women may have transmitted the virus to their babies during or after birth.
Dr. Ashley Roman, a pregnancy specialist at NYU Langone Health, said she and her colleagues also detected viral particles on the fetal side of the placenta in several of the 11 cases they examined.
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Dr. Jane van Dis, OB-GYN and Medical Director of Maven, a digital health company for women and families, says that while there are mechanisms of infection in the womb, it is still “extremely rare.”
“Many babies have been born since this pandemic started,” he said. “The number of babies born to mothers with known positive COVID who show no clinical signs or signs of infection in the laboratory … that number is overwhelming.”
In addition, he says that the clinical results of babies who tested positive for the virus have been good. In fact, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seems to indicate that pregnant women tend to be at higher risk for serious complications than their babies.
“The most important thing pregnant women need to know is that it is important to distance yourself socially. It’s important to wear a mask, wash your hands, “said Roman. “Women do not need to be completely separated from society, but they should be concerned about the impact of contracting COVID on their own health during pregnancy.”
Contributor: Associated Press. Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
Patient health and safety coverage in USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Healthcare Ethics, Innovation and Competition. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial contributions.
This article originally appeared in the US TODAY: According to a study, the first baby was reported to have received coronavirus from the mother in utero. Experts say the cases are “extremely rare.”
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