Doctor Daniele De Luca of the Antoine Béclère hospital in Paris is sure of the cause: the baby has passed the virus through the placenta. “It is not very common, but it does happen,” says De Luca The Guardian. “We must therefore take this into account in clinical research and the provision of care.”
Immediately in isolation
The 23-year-old mother was hospitalized at the end of March with a severe fever, which also caused her to cough. She tested positive for corona. Because her newborn baby also seemed out of order, the child was immediately placed in isolation. The boy’s blood and lung fluids were tested, which showed that he, like his mother, had corona.
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The various tests also showed that the virus had entered the placenta through the mother’s blood during pregnancy. There, the virus cells were able to multiply and thus infect the baby. The study is published in Nature Communications.
Four cases in China
It is the first time that this method of transmission has been proven. Earlier, there were four suspicious cases in China. According to De Luca, it is difficult to investigate this form of transmission. “You need blood from the mother, blood from the baby, blood from the umbilical cord, the placenta and the amniotic fluid. That is very complicated when there is a pandemic and there are all emergencies all the time.”
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The placenta is essential in that research because it contains the same type of cells that are also in our lungs. And it is precisely these cells that are used by the corona cells by the human body spreading.
Reassuring message
Because little research has been done on babies with corona, the boy was initially given a drug that did not work. The baby was then cured ‘on its own’, explains treated doctor De Luca. He also did not receive any other medicines after that.
Although the baby initially seemed quite ill and had potentially dangerous inflammation in his brain, De Luca has a comforting message for people who are expecting. “The baby has recovered. A pregnancy is very controlled, if something like this happens, we can do something about it.”
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