Study Says COVID-19 Can Enter The Placenta, Causing The Fetus To Die In The Womb

Illustration of pregnant woman. (Unsplash/freestocks)

JAKARTA - Mothers infected with COVID-19 can transfer the disease to the placenta and fetus, resulting in stillbirth, a new study by researchers from Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital found.

In some cases of stillbirth, higher levels of the virus are found in the fetus than in the sick mother. And, in all cases, substantial damage to the placental tissue was found.

This research was led by Prof. Eran Barzilay, head of the Ultrasound Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit in Assuta. He explained, according to several studies conducted internationally, there is a twofold increase in the risk of fetal death during pregnancy in women with coronavirus compared to those without the disease.

However, until now there has been no research that examines what causes it. The team started by identifying four women, patient Assuta, whose fetuses died at the same time they were diagnosed with the virus.

Then, they ran a placental pathology test and performed PCR tests on the mother, fetus, and placenta. In all cases, they found the virus had infected both the placenta and the baby, including causing extensive damage to the placental tissue, which Barzilay said they believed was the cause of fetal death.

"There are several viruses that can cause infection in the fetus when the mother is infected," Professor Barzilay quoted The Jerusalem Post November 30 as saying.

"But we've never seen this kind of placental damage from a virus. It seems to be something specific to corona."

He added, what was surprising was, "even if the mother has very mild disease and mild symptoms and her PCR test is positive, but shows a low rate of viral infection, the placenta has a high viral load."

Researchers compared the placentas of women who had lost their babies with those who had not, but were also diagnosed with COVID and found no corona in the placentas that fed live babies.

"We can say that infection does cause fetal death and that death is caused directly by the placenta," Barzilay said.

None of the women who lost their babies were vaccinated. The study was accepted for publication by the 'International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics'.

Barzilay said fetal deaths are very rare, so multiplying by two doesn't have a major impact on the population. However, she said it was another reason for mothers to protect themselves from illness.

He added that COVID-19 could pose a severe risk to pregnant women, especially in their third trimester, with the country and the world seeing many pregnant women develop severe illness.

These women are often forced to deliver their babies prematurely, which can lead to developmental challenges or even be life-threatening.

To note, a separate study found that women who self-vaccinate can pass some of the immunity on to their newborns. Barzilay said that while there were some cases of babies developing severe disease, getting vaccinated gave newborns "an additional benefit."