COVID: Can it affect unborn babies?

Mild to moderate Covid-19 disease in pregnant women does not appear to have any effect on the fetus’s brain, according to a new small German scientific study. Researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, led by Dr. Sofia Steckline of the Department of Radiology, who made the announcement at the annual conference of the North American Society of Radiology, used magnetic resonance imaging to study 33 pregnant women around the 28th week of pregnancy, with symptoms of coronavirus infection appearing on average in the 18th week of pregnancy. No problems were found in the brains of the unborn children and no indication that there was a coronavirus infection. According to Stecklein, the study involved pregnant women without a serious Covid-19 infection who did not need treatment. “So far, the vaccine is the most promising protection against Covid-19. Any potential side effects are controllable, even in pregnant women, so pregnant women should seriously consider getting their vaccination,” Steckline said. Are you a pilates instructor and want to learn how to train women during pregnancy and after childbirth? Then attended the “Pilates and Pregnancy” seminar offered by Base Training. AnotherBritish study, led by Dr. Mattias Guerley of University College London (UCL) and Royal Free Hospital, published in the International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, showed that there was a very small risk of disease for the unborn children if the mother was diagnosed with covid. The researchers looked at how coronavirus could be transmitted from an infected pregnant mother to the fetus, studying various fetal organs and placental tissue to see if they had the proper protein “gateways” on their cell surfaces (ACE2 and TMPR receptors) in order for the viruse to “pierce” and infecs cells. It was found that the only organs of the fetus with these cellular receptors are the intestines and the kidneys. In particular, because the kidneys in the fetus are anatomically protected from exposure to the virus, so they are not at risk of infection. As far as the gastrointestinal tract is concerned, the researchers said that in order for the fetus to become infected with the coronavirus, it must swallow infected amniotic fluid which then would enter the gut. As Gerley pointed out, “the fetus is known to start swallowing amniotic fluid in the second half of pregnancy. The virus must be present in significant amounts in the amniotic fluid around the fetus, in order for it to cause covid infection. However, many studies in maternity hospitals have found that the amniotic fluid around the fetus usually does not contain the coronavirus, even if the mother is infected with it. Our findings show that clinical infection of the fetus during pregnancy is possible, but unusual, and this is reassuring for prospective parents.” source: Athens News Agency Recent Articles