Singapore experts studying the effect of COVID on unborn babies

Doctors are studying the impact of COVID-19 on unborn babies in Singapore, where a baby delivered to an infected mother earlier this month had antibodies to the virus but was not a carrier of the disease.

The ongoing study among city-state public hospitals adds to international efforts to better understand whether the infection can be transferred during pregnancy, how babies develop antibodies in the womb, and whether they offer an effective shield against the virus.

A SingaporeA woman, infected with the coronavirus in March when she was pregnant, told the local Straits Times newspaper that doctors said her newborn son had antibodies to the virus but was born without the infection.

“It is not yet known whether the presence of these antibodies in a newborn confers a degree of protection against COVID-19 infection, much less the duration of protection,” said Tan Hak Koon, president of the obstetrics and gynecology division at KK. Women and Children’s Hospital.

KK is one of the hospitals involved in the study of infected pregnant women in Singapore, details of which emerged after the case of the baby born with antibodies was made public.

The National University Hospital, another hospital involved, said the study targets the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women, their fetus, and postpartum outcomes.

The World Health Organization says that while some pregnant women have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19, it is not yet known whether an infected pregnant woman can pass the virus to her fetus or baby during pregnancy or delivery.

While there is evidence that transmission during pregnancy is rare, a small study in Italy has suggested it is possible, according to research published in the journal Nature in October.

Other studies have shown that COVID-19 antibodies can be passed to a baby through breastfeeding, while KK’s Tan said there was evidence that they could pass during pregnancy through the placenta to the baby.