A research article published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday stated the first solid evidence of newborns can be infected in the womb with coronavirus.
Doctors in France have claimed the first confirmed case of a newborn infected in the womb with COVID-19 by the mother. The baby boy, born in March, suffered brain swelling and neurological symptoms linked to COVID-19 in adults, but have since recovered.
Earlier research had pointed to the likely transmission of the virus from mother to foetus, but the study offered the first concrete evidence, said senior author Daniele De Luca, a doctor at Antoine Beclere Hospital near Paris to a news agency. "We have shown that the transmission from the mother to the foetus across the placenta is possible during the last weeks of pregnancy," he said.
The Hindustan Times had recently reported of a similar incident where doctors at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital in Delhi stated the Covid-19 could spread from the mother to her child when the baby is still in the womb, "A child born at RML Hospital to a woman, who recovered from Covid-19 recently, has been found positive for the infection".
Furthermore, A US baby girl born prematurely to a Covid-19 infected mother also proved that intrauterine transmission can occur, according to the findings published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
The concentration of SARS-CoV-2, the technical name given to the coronavirus, was highest in the placenta, the researchers found. The umbilical cord is the pathway to the transmission.
