Recently, a pregnant woman in Taichung was unfortunately diagnosed with COVID-19 (serious special infectious pneumonia, new coronary pneumonia, Wuhan pneumonia). If the baby boy's PCR test is negative three times, it can be determined to be a healthy baby without infection. Although there is good news from the operating room, there are still many expectant mothers who are worried about the domestic epidemic, fearing that their fetuses will also be infected with COVID-19. A large study published in the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) confirmed that COVID-19 may indeed cause "mother-to-child transmission", but overall it is very rare. The study also said that even if the chances are remote, pregnant women should take appropriate measures to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission.
The possibility of "mother-to-child transmission" does exist, and 4 cases may increase the positive rate of infants 1 Image source: Tide Health A Special Database research team led by the University of Birmingham and the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted data analysis on more than 14,000 pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide. In pregnant women infected with COVID-19, virus stocks were detected in maternal blood, placenta, amniotic fluid and breast milk, suggesting that the possibility of mother-to-child transmission does exist, the team said. The results of the report show that nearly 800 infants in the subjects showed positive PCR reaction. After the study, 749 infants survived (about 93.6%), 8 pregnant women had early miscarriage (about 1%), and 20 pregnant women had stillbirths (2.5%). ) and 23 infant deaths (2.8%). Overall, the chance of mother-to-child transmission from COVID-19 is less than about 2%.
The study pointed out that the possible factors related to the positive reaction of the baby are: the pregnant woman is seriously ill, the pregnant woman has been admitted to the intensive care unit before giving birth, the pregnant woman died, and the pregnant woman was only detected to have the COVID-19 virus after giving birth. Although the risk of transmission of the virus through natural birth (vaginal birth), skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding is extremely low, intensive testing and diagnosis are still needed to confirm whether the baby is carrying the disease, the team said. The University of Birmingham also recommends that pregnant women be vaccinated as soon as possible to prevent maternal infection and the risk of severe illness.