COVID-19 antibodies found in babies born to coronavirus positive mothers: Study

Pregnant women with COVID-19 give birth to babies with antibodies against the novel coronavirus, said a Singaporean study published on December 18 along with noting that such woman witnesses the usual symptoms of the highly-infectious disease. According to a small study of at least 16 women did not find any sign of transfer of disease between the mother and her child which led experts to believe that the viral infection causing unrest across the globe, is still not fully explained. 

"Recently published in the journal Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, the study tracked the clinical course and outcomes of 16 pregnant women from 23 to 36 years of age, infected with COVID-19 in all three trimesters of pregnancy, between 15 March 2020 and 22 August 2020."

"The study results were reassuring," the Singapore Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research Network said in a statement. "This demonstrates that the incidence and severity of COVID-19 among pregnant women parallels general population trends."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that it is unknown if a pregnant woman with COVID-18 can pass the virus to her fetus or the baby during pregnancy or delivery, there is not a single case yet in the world where the coronavirus was transferred in such a manner. The active virus has not been found in the samples of the fluid around the baby or in the womb.

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Singaporean Woman Gives Birth To Baby With COVID-19 Antibodies

The study came after most recently, it was reported that a Singaporean woman who had contracted COVID-19 when she was pregnant gave birth to a baby with the antibodies against the highly-infectious novel coronavirus. As per the Strait Times report on November 29, Celine Ng-Chan gave birth to her second child earlier this month and the paediatrician said that he has antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

However, the doctors were not sure if the antibodies were passed from the mother or the baby had developed them for him or herself. Moreover, a paper was published in October by the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases said that all 11 infants who were born to women with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China had some levels of IgG antibodies at birth and five had IgM antibodies. IgM is the initial antibody developed in response to an infection but is usually not transferred from mother to the fetus but IgG is smaller and can be transferred passively. 

Celine Ng-Chan, who was mildly ill with COVID-19 and was discharged in two-and-a-half weeks, told the paper that “My doctor suspects I have transferred my COVID-19 antibodies to him during my pregnancy”. 

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