Singapore:
Doctors are studying the effect of COVID-19 on unborn babies in Singapore, exactly where an infant delivered by an infected mother earlier this month had antibodies against the virus but did not carry the illness.
The ongoing study amongst the city-state’s public hospitals adds to international efforts to far better recognize no matter whether the infection can be transferred throughout pregnancy, how babies create antibodies in the womb and no matter whether they supply an successful shield against the virus.
A Singaporean lady, infected with the coronavirus in March when she was pregnant, told nearby newspaper the Straits Times that medical doctors mentioned her infant son had antibodies against the virus but was born devoid of the infection.
“It is still unknown whether the presence of these antibodies in a newborn baby confers a degree of protection against COVID-19 infection, much less the duration of protection,” mentioned Tan Hak Koon, chairman of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology division at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
KK is 1 of the hospitals involved in the study of infected pregnant girls in Singapore, specifics of which surfaced just after the case of the child born with antibodies was created public.
The National University Hospital, a further hospital involved, mentioned the study aims to appear at the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant girls, their foetus and outcomes just after delivery.
The World Health Organisation says though some pregnant girls have an elevated threat of establishing serious COVID-19, it is not but recognized no matter whether an infected pregnant lady can pass the virus to her foetus or child throughout pregnancy or delivery.
Doctors in China reported the detection and decline more than time of COVID-19 antibodies in babies born to girls with the coronavirus illness, according to an post published in October in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
While there is proof that transmission throughout pregnancy is uncommon, a little study in Italy recommended that it is achievable, according to study published in the Nature journal in October.
Other research have shown COVID-19 antibodies can be passed to a youngster by way of breastfeeding, though KK’s Tan mentioned there was proof they could pass throughout pregnancy via the placenta to the child.
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