Researchers urge women considering pregnancy to get vaccinated against Covid.
US researchers reported Thursday what they believe are the first two confirmed cases of infants born with brain damage as a result of the entry of the COVID-19 virus into the mother’s placenta.
According to Miami University StudiesPublished in the journal Pediatrics, both babies were born to young mothers who tested positive for the virus in their second trimester during the peak spread of the delta variant in 2020 — before vaccines were available. Both children had a stroke on the day they were born, and later had significant developmental delays. While one child died at 13 months of age, the other was placed in hospice, the researchers said.
Dr. Marilyn Benny, pediatrician and assistant professor at the University of Miami, said none of the children tested positive for the virus, but they had high levels of Covid antibodies in their blood. reuters, She said that this suggests that the virus can transfer from the mother to the placenta and then to the baby.
The researchers found evidence of the virus in the placentas of both mothers. Dr. Beni said that an autopsy of the brain of the child who died also showed traces of the virus in the brain, suggesting that the injuries were caused directly by infection.
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According to the study, both the mothers tested positive for the virus. While one had only mild symptoms and carried the baby to full term, the other mother was so seriously ill that doctors had to deliver her baby at 32 weeks.
Dr. Shahnaz Duara, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the University of Miami, said she believed the cases were rare, but urged women who were infected during pregnancy to report their children’s developmental delays to pediatricians. Notify to investigate. “We know that things can be quite subtle until the age of seven or eight, when children go to school,” according to the news agency.
The researchers also urged women who were considering pregnancy should get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The researchers said it was unclear whether the lesions during pregnancy were unique to the delta variant of Covid or could occur with Omicron-related variants.
Meanwhile, the study said that doctors previously suggested it was possible, but until now, there was no direct evidence of COVID-19 in the mother’s placenta or the baby’s brain.
“This is the first time that we have been able to demonstrate the virus in a fetal organ with a transplacental route,” said Dr. Michael Pedas, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Miami. “That’s why we think it’s so important,” he said.