A few days ago, we published the reference of two studies that have analyzed whether pregnant women were capable of transmitting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to their babies; The conclusion of these studies – carried out in China in groups of nine women and four other women respectively – was as follows: it does not seem possible that the new coronavirus can be spread in the mother’s womb.
However, in the United Kingdom, the first baby with coronavirus was born a few days ago to a mother who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 , as published by the New York Daily News. This baby is the youngest person in the world with COVID-19.
The most intriguing thing is how this newborn has been able to contract the virus, and scientists continue to study whether the infection could have occurred during delivery or inside the mother’s womb.
This is a completely exceptional case, given that, in the cases studied in China, pregnant women affected by COVID-19 gave birth to healthy babies ; only in one of the thirteen cases was there a mild respiratory problem in the baby, which could not be associated with the virus. In addition, it should be added that all the babies in both studies, except one, were born by caesarean section, so it would still be necessary to study whether natural childbirth is a condition that can favor a possible contagion. However, the baby that was born through the birth canal is a healthy child.
In any case, the baby is considered out of danger of contracting any serious problem, and the doctors keep the mother and the newborn under observation in different hospitals.
The severity of the new coronavirus is greater as the age of the patient increases, and the risk of suffering serious complications (and, ultimately, death) also increases if there are comorbidities (previous pathologies such as respiratory problems, cancer or diabetes). This means that healthy and young people do not usually suffer complications beyond mild symptoms. Young children, for example, can be almost asymptomatic, but this does not mean that they are not vectors of contagion: they can transmit the disease to their older relatives.
Scientists believe that the new coronavirus affects young children less because their immune system reacts less violently than that of adults, due to their immaturity. The same would happen with other viral diseases such as measles or chickenpox, which have a much more virulent evolution when the patient is an adult. Regarding the risk of death, so far no deaths have been reported in children under nine years of age.
Nothing is safe
On the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, for now, very few results or estimates can be considered definitive. It is a new coronavirus that we are trying to learn, little by little, more and more data, backed by a rich scientific community, which has already given birth to more than 150 scientific studies trying to unravel the details of this new coronavirus.
Two vaccines are ready to begin clinical trials, and two antiviral drugs are also in phase I, in human trials, with promising results. But, for now, we will have to wait a few months to have a definitive treatment or vaccine accessible to the entire population.
