(WHDH) — Pregnant women infected with coronavirus can pass the potentially deadly disease onto their unborn baby, according to a new study.
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Data recently published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics found that three of 33 pregnant women in Wuhan, China, with confirmed cases of coronavirus had given birth to babies who tested positive for the virus.
The most common COVID-19 symptom in the infected newborns was shortness of breath, researchers wrote. All of their conditions were said to be mild and their “outcomes were favorable.”
“It is crucial to screen pregnant women and implement strict infection control measures, quarantine of infected mothers, and close monitoring of neonates at risk of COVID-19,” researchers wrote.
At this time, it’s unclear whether the transmission of the virus occurs in the womb.
In babies born to affected mothers, samples including amniotic fluid, cord blood, and breast milk tested negative for the virus but researchers said “vertical maternal-fetal” transmission cannot be ruled out.
All of the infected newborns have since recovered from the virus.
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