Just two of the infants in the sample examined by Italian researchers tested positive for the virus, and both quickly recovered. In one case, a baby tested negative two days later, an indication that the child was already producing antibodies against the virus in the womb, said Claudio Fenizia, an assistant professor of immunology at the University of Milan, who led the study.
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Fenizia’s group looked at 31 women with the coronavirus in three Milan-area hospitals in March and April. All were late in their pregnancies, leaving open the question of the virus’s impact on the early stages of gestation.
The virus itself was found in one woman’s vagina, one woman’s placenta, one woman’s umbilical cord blood and one woman’s breast milk, the results show. Nine had antibodies in umbilical cord blood and one showed them in breast milk.
Fenizia said the results suggest it may be important as the pandemic continues to monitor pregnant mothers and newborns for signs of inflammation, especially following the discovery of an alarming inflammatory syndrome linked to covid-19 that has affected hundreds of children in the United States.
At the moment, he said, there are no proven interventions for pregnant women infected by the coronavirus. Fenizia said prevention is the best approach.
