Coronavirus: transmission in utero demonstrated

(ANSA) - ROME, JULY 13 - After the two cases reported in Italy, in the research coordinated by the State University of Milan and presented in the AIDS 2020 congress, another case in Texas shows that the new coronavirus can be transmitted during pregnancy. The new finding is published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal by the University of Southwestern Texas group in Dallas coordinated by Amanda Evans.
    "Numerous infants were born to women who tested positive for the SarsCov2 virus, most of them without respiratory disease or molecular traces of alvirus positivity," comments Evans. "Our study is the first to document intrauterine transmission of infection during pregnancy based on traces of the virus in the placental fetal cells."
    The baby, born after 34 weeks of gestation, underwent intensive neonatal therapy for both prematurity and possible exposure to the SarsCoV2 virus. The infant appeared initially healthy, but on the second day of life, she began to have fever and mild respiratory problems. "It is unlikely that the respiratory distress observed in the small addiction to her prematurity, given that it started on the second day of life," observes the researcher. The baby is in fact positive for the new coronavirus 24-48 hours after the birth. She was treated with an oxygen supplement for several days and did not need mechanical ventilation. She remained positive at Covid-19 for 14 days. On the 21 st day mother and daughter returned home in good condition. The researchers looked at the placenta, which showed signs of inflammation. More detailed tests subsequently revealed the presence in the placenta of both the virus particles and one of the fundamental proteins of the virus, that of the nucleocapsid (N): both elements confirm that the infection was transmitted during pregnancy and not during or after childbirth. (HANDLE).