CNN reported on Friday that a new study from Italy suggests that COVID-19 can cross the placenta from a pregnant woman to her foetus.
Two babies born to women infected with COVID-19 were born infected themselves, Claudio Fenizia of the University of Milan and colleagues reported at a conference organised by the International AIDS Society.
31 women infected with COVID-19 were studied, who were in late pregnancy during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. The study team thoroughly tested the women, their babies once they were born, the placenta, the umbilical cord, the mother's vaginal fluids and breast milk.
It was reported that two of the newborns had positive COVID-19 tests at birth.
"Our result strongly suggests and support that vertical transmission occurred in two cases out of the 31 studied," Fenizia was quoted as telling a news conference.
"The virus was found in an at-term placenta and in the umbilical cord blood, in the vagina of a pregnant woman and in milk," the researchers wrote in a summary of their work.
"This is the first ringing bell that should raise awareness about a topic that is not really well studied," Fenizia said.
Reportedly, the placentas were inflamed, as well, a sign of infection. The umbilical cord blood of one of the newborns had antibodies indicating a recent infection. These antibody types are not usually transmitted from mother to baby, so they indicate the foetus was directly infected, Fenizia said.
Luckily, the women were infected late in pregnancy so it is unlikely the virus would have affected the babies' development, Fenizia added.
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