Can Pregnant Women Transmit The Coronavirus To Their Babies?
The coronavirus pandemic has shown certain peculiarities that are still being investigated. A question that appeared at the beginning of the outbreak was whether pregnant women can transmit the coronavirus to their babies.
Previous experiences with epidemics and pandemics alerted the scientific community from the beginning. Many viral diseases that cause respiratory symptoms have a higher incidence of severity among the population of pregnant women and their fetuses.
The two previous outbreaks of coronavirus, which occurred in 2002-2003 and 2012-2013, did not have mother-to-fetus transmission, but did complicate pregnancies. During these epidemics, infected pregnant women had a higher risk of miscarriage than other pregnant women.
Similarly, when the H1N1 influenza pandemic struck in 2009, pregnant women were a high-risk group. Immediately quarantine was indicated for them and special measures to attend their deliveries, opting for a cesarean section before the natural route.
Based on the background we named, Chinese scientific study centers investigated whether pregnant women can transmit the coronavirus to their babies. The first results, although limited in size, indicate that there is no vertical transmission.
What is vertical transmission?
To understand whether pregnant women can transmit the coronavirus to their babies, we have to understand how mother and child communicate during pregnancy. It is this intimate communication that can transfer the virus from one body to the other.
The fetus is connected to the mother through the umbilical cord and the placenta. This anatomical and physiological unit carries nutrients from the mother’s blood to the developing child. Substances and pathogens also circulate there.
There is talk of vertical transmission when a pathogenic agent passes from the mother to the fetus through this placental unit during the development of the pregnancy. The most current and widespread example that we have in the world is that of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
But vertical transmission is not the only form of mother-baby contagion that exists. During natural childbirth, the fetus can be infected with infections from the mother by coming into contact with the mucous membranes of the reproductive system. This is known as perinatal transmission.
And once outside the mother’s body, breast milk is another route of infection, although it does not apply to all pathologies. In those that did prove contagion, the mother is instructed not to breastfeed and to supplant feeding with milk formulas.
The initial study to find out if pregnant women can transmit the coronavirus
In Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic began, the first investigations were carried out. On infected pregnant women admitted to the Hospital de la Unión, the researchers tested the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in them and their children.
First, the newborns of these mothers had no symptoms associated with the coronavirus. None of them had a fever, nor did they have coughing spells.
In any case, by protocol, the infants were isolated from birth to observe their evolution. All of them were tested for COVID-19, obtaining negative results in 100% of the babies.
One of the newborns had a respiratory complication, and others developed skin rashes during their hospitalization. As there are negative results of coronavirus infection, the researchers affirm that it is not possible to link these symptoms to SARS-CoV-2. However, more extensive investigations are needed to confirm or rule out.
Pregnant women and measures against the coronavirus
Although studies suggest that pregnant women cannot transmit the coronavirus to their babies, preventive measures are inescapable for them as well. They must respect quarantine and social isolation as others do.
In some countries, restrictions were increased for them due to a principle of safety and alertness, which is always taken in these cases with respect to pregnancies. Work licenses were advanced to them and they were prohibited from attending crowded places.
It is important that pregnant women have contact with their primary gynecologists for remote consultations. In this way, they will avoid attending guards and health centers where they could become infected.
Despite the absence of confirmed vertical transmission, a pregnant woman can contract a severe form of coronavirus and complicate her pregnancy. For this reason, prevention is important in the pregnant woman, especially if she is a woman with previous respiratory diseases, such as asthma.
