Update 10/28 : When performing the second test 48 hours after birth, the result for Covid has been negative, which indicates that he is not infected, but has tested positive for IgG, revealing that he has antibodies. The mother probably transferred them to the baby through the placenta.
A systematic review of 49 studies confirms that the transmission of COVID-19 from mother to baby during pregnancy and delivery is rare , but there have been cases of babies born with coronavirus, and this happened in Huesca could be one of they.
The mother has given birth at the San Jorge University Hospital in Huesca. Upon arrival at the hospital, according to the protocol and the procedure performed with all pregnant women who give birth, a PCR was performed before admission with a positive result .
As soon as her baby was born, the test was also done, and to the surprise of the doctors, the newborn also tested positive.
Experts suspect that it is possible that he was infected before birth through the placenta, although they do not rule out any hypotheses. It could have been infected after birth, through the mother’s breath, but it is very unlikely since it is not usually detected as soon as it becomes infected; there is a previous latency period and in this case the PCR result was positive immediately after birth.
The medical center has ensured that the newborn is asymptomatic, and is well, under the supervision of the Pediatric team. They have also pointed out that coronavirus-positive babies usually do not develop symptoms or, if they do, they are usually mild.
According to the newspaper El Heraldo, a few hours ago the baby underwent a second test 48 hours after birth to check the positive and rule out that it could be a false positive.
Few documented cases in the world
There are few cases of babies born with coronavirus in the world that have been infected in pregnancy, known as “vertical transmission”, or shortly after birth.
According to the systematic review of 49 studies, only 8 of 292 women who had a vaginal delivery had a baby who tested positive for the coronavirus, 2.7 percent; while among those who had a cesarean delivery, 20 of them had babies who tested positive, that is, 5.3 percent .
If confirmed, the case of this baby from Huesca would be one of these unusual cases. In Europe, the first case of transmission from mother to baby during pregnancy was documented in Paris and later we also learned of another Lisbon. Even in Madrid there was the birth of a baby detected as a possible case of vertical transmission, one of the first suspected cases that we knew about.
Experts point out that it is not a cause for alarm for pregnant women, since these are rare cases and most of the time babies do not have symptoms or are very mild.
Via | The Herald
In Babies and more | Newborns infected with coronavirus experience mild symptoms, new study finds
