According to a new study, Covid-19 in pregnant women increases the risk of respiratory problems in their newborns. These breathing problems may be due to an overactive inflammatory reaction in infants. Fortunately, the threat of RD in newborns greatly decreases if women are vaccinated.
In the study just published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from UCLA and the Cleveland Clinic studied the physical condition of babies born to women with Covid-19. In summary, 221 women infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and infants were studied. About 17% of these infants had symptoms and symptoms of respiratory distress within six months of birth. Among infants born to women not infected with SARS-CoV-2, the prevalence of DR is approximately 5%.
To investigate the reasons for this increased threat of RD, the researchers looked at several factors. They looked at the severity of the disease in the women, their vaccination status and whether the pregnancies were carried to term.
The most important takeaways? Respiratory distress in babies is not unusual if the women had severe Covid-19 illness, if the babies were born prematurely (less than 37 weeks gestation), or if the women were unvaccinated. In fact, the threat of respiratory distress in babies born to unvaccinated women.
Of course, those other points are interdependent. For example, researchers note that 16% of unvaccinated moms had severe or critical illness from Covid-19. Among vaccinated moms, that number dropped to just 4%. Therefore, the higher prevalence of RD in infants born to unvaccinated women would possibly reflect the greater severity of the disease seen in those women.
It should be noted that the babies followed in this study were not infected with the Covid-19 virus. Instead, the researchers describe them as non-inflamed Americans exposed to SARS-CoV-2. For some viruses, mother-to-fetus transmission is common. . For a pregnant woman inflamed by cytomegalovirus, for example, the threat of transmission in the womb is high. For respiratory viruses, this threat is sometimes low. This appears to be true for SARS-CoV-2. Cases of infection in utero or vertical, transmission of the Covid-19 virus has been reported, but this is a rare event.
So if the newborns weren’t swollen, what’s the cause of the shortness of breath?To begin answering this question, the researchers looked at protein levels in the blood of non-inflamed infants exposed to SARS-Cov-2 and of infants born to women who had not been inflamed. They report that several proteins related to an inflammatory reaction were upregulated in EWS babies. It is conceivable that Covid-19 infection during pregnancy triggers a major inflammatory reaction in the fetus. This inflammatory reaction, in turn, leads to the observed shortness of breath.
However, the scientists point out that several points prevent them from concluding a causal link. First, the number of Americans studied is small. Second, the increased inflammatory reaction in infants may have been caused by factors other than Covid-19. Third, the direct mechanistic link between a more intense inflammatory reaction and shortness of breath has not been elucidated, but the initial knowledge is intriguing.
Numerous studies have shown the protection and efficacy of existing Covid-19 mRNA vaccines. The injections reduce the threat of serious illness, hospitalization, and death. In addition, if women are vaccinated during pregnancy, the threat of Covid-19 hospitalization in newborns decreases. In this report, we can include some other advantages attributable to vaccines. For pregnant women, pre-infection Covid-19 vaccination reduces the risk of respiratory illness in exposed but uninfected newborns. As the authors of this study note, “pregnant women other people deserve to be encouraged to receive the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. “Maternal immunization can protect women and their children.