Pregnant women with Covid-19 DO give babies protective antibodies

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Pregnant women with Covid-19 CAN donate protective antibodies against coronavirus to their child, study finds

  • US researchers studied more than 1,700 blood samples from mom and baby
  • Eighty-three of these mothers had antibodies to the coronavirus in their system
  • 72 (8%) of babies born to infected mothers also had Covid antibodies

By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline and Xantha Leatham for the Daily Mail

Posted: | Updated:

Pregnant women who have been infected with the coronavirus may be able to give protective antibodies to their unborn baby, a new study suggests.

Philadelphia-based researchers have found that Covid antibodies can pass into the unborn baby’s placenta if the mother catches the virus during pregnancy.

Results are a good sign for worried expectant parents, but researchers say they are unable to say for sure the newborn baby of an infected mother is ‘absolutely safe’ from Covid-19 because science is still evolving.

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Pregnant women who have been infected with coronavirus may give protective antibodies to their unborn baby, new study suggests

Pregnant women who have been infected with coronavirus may give protective antibodies to their unborn baby, new study suggests

Pregnant women with severe Covid-19 are more likely to suffer from serious complications at birth

Pregnant women with a severe case of Covid-19 are at increased risk of dangerous birth complications, US study finds.

This includes the need for a cesarean section, heavy bleeding after birth, high blood pressure, and premature delivery.

Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention also revealed that pregnant women with severe Covid-19 are more likely to die than expectant mothers with only a mild case of coronavirus infection.

For women who give birth battling a moderate case of coronavirus, there is no increased risk of death or complications during the birth.

CDC research has found a correlation between mortality and pregnancy only in the worst cases.

The study looked for antibodies in the mother’s blood samples as well as in the cord blood – the placenta and the attached umbilical cord – immediately after labor.

Umbilical cord blood faithfully reflects the blood of a newborn baby at the time of birth.

Eighty-three of the 1,471 women in the study, which took place between April 9 and August 8 last year, tested positive for Covid-19 and antibodies were found in the cord blood from 72 (87%) of their babies.

Eleven infants born to Covid-positive mothers who did not have antibodies tested negative for the virus.

“In this cohort study, maternal anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were transferred across the placenta after asymptomatic and symptomatic infection during pregnancy,” the researchers write in their study published in JAMA Paediatrics.

The researchers also found that the baby inherited more antibodies if the mother had a high number of antibodies, while a mother with only a small number of immune cells would pass fewer of them to her child.

Corresponding author Dr Karen Puopolo said: “This finding must be placed in the context of the fact that SARS-CoV-2 is a new virus.

“Therefore, the time from maternal exposure to the virus to delivery of the newborn never exceeded three to four months in our study, and in most cases the time was shorter than that.

“But there also needs to be enough time between maternal infection and childbirth for the mother to make the type of antibodies that cross the placenta and for this crossing to take place.

“We found that if the time between exposure to the maternal virus and delivery was at least two to three weeks, then we could detect antibodies in the newborn.

Philadelphia-based researchers found that Covid antibodies could pass into unborn baby's placenta if mother catches the virus during pregnancy (stock)

Philadelphia-based researchers found that Covid antibodies could pass into unborn baby’s placenta if mother catches the virus during pregnancy (stock)

The researchers said their findings support the potential of maternal-derived antibodies to protect their newborns against coronavirus infections.

Dr Puopolo said: “ Our results mean that maternal antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 can cross the placenta efficiently, and our results therefore demonstrate the potential of these maternally-derived antibodies to provide neonatal protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

“Nothing in our work should change the way we currently care for pregnant women and their newborns. Our work cannot tell a woman that her newborn baby is absolutely safe from COVID-19.

“There is still work to be done to determine what levels and types of antibodies protect newborns from infection with SARS-CoV-2, and how long these antibodies can last in the newborn circulation.

Pregnant women who contract Covid-19 in their third trimester are unlikely to pass it on to their unborn baby

Pregnant women who catch the coronavirus do not pass it on to their unborn children, study data shows.

Researchers based in the United States followed 64 women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, between April 2 and June 13.

None of the babies tested positive for Covid-19 after birth and no coronavirus was detected in the placenta.

While Harvard academics warn that the small sample size makes it impossible to rule out that some pregnant women may pass the virus on to their children, it shows that pregnancy’s natural defenses repel the virus, they say.

The pregnant women were all in their third trimester and had the virus in their lungs, nose and throat, but not in their bloodstream or placentae.



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