Transmission of Covid-19 from mother to fetus confirmed by French doctors

French doctors reported the first confirmed case of Covid-19 intrauterine contamination, in a study published Tuesday July 14 by the magazine Nature Communications.

The newborn was born in March and suffered from neurological symptoms associated with the disease. “We have shown that transmission from mother to fetus is possible via the placenta in the last weeks of pregnancy”, said Agence France-presse (AFP) doctor Daniele De Luca, of Antoine-Béclère de Clamart hospital, and main author of the study.

Previous studies have suggested the possibility of prenatal mother-to-child transmission, but this new study provides evidence, he said. “You have 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 easy, which is why it was suspected, but not demonstrated ”, he explained.

A “very rare” phenomenon

Doctors conducted the study on a woman in her twenties, hospitalized in early March. 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 the D^r By Luca.

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 doctors decided on a treatment, in the absence of a known remedy for Covid-19. “The bad news is that it can happen. The good news is that it’s rare – very rare even reported to the population “, commented Daniele 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 through hand washing and social distancing”, insists this one.

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