Previous studies have suggested the possibility of mother-to-child prenatal transmission, but a study released Tuesday now provides evidence. The new coronavirus can infect an infant still in the mother's womb.
"We have shown that transmission from mother to fetus is possible via the placenta in the last weeks of pregnancy," said Dr. Daniele De Luca, of Antoine Béclère de Clamart hospital, lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications.
Doctors conducted the study on a woman in her twenties, hospitalized in early March. Twenty-four hours after birth, the newborn presented severe symptoms, including stiffness of the limbs and damage to the cerebral nervous system. Symptoms that finally disappeared on their own, before the doctors decided on a treatment, in the absence of a known remedy for Covid.
As the birth was done by caesarean section, all samples could be taken from the potential reservoirs of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the highest charge of which was found in the placenta. "It went from there through the umbilical cord to the baby, where it developed," said Dr. De Luca.
"Rare, very rare" contamination
Several positive tests on babies had raised the alarm, in China, Russia and Peru in particular, but it had so far been impossible to confirm the suspicions. “It is necessary to analyze the maternal blood, the amniotic fluid, the blood of the newborn, the placenta, etc ... Collecting all these samples during an epidemic with emergencies in all directions was not simple, this is why c 'was suspected, but not demonstrated,' he said. “The bad news is that it can happen. The good news is that it is rare - very rare even when reported to the population, ”commented Dr De Luca.
Out of several thousand cases of children born to mothers with Covid-19, no more than 2% tested positive for the virus, and even fewer developed severe symptoms, said Marian Knight, professor of maternal and child health at Oxford University, which did not participate in the study. "The main message for pregnant women remains to avoid infection by hand washing and social distancing," insists this expert.
