Transmission of coronavirus in pregnancy

How might COVID-19 affect pregnancy? Although we are learning more and more each day, there’s still a lot that we don’t know, including whether the virus can be transmitted to the baby. 

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, a UK body that sets out standards for clinical practice when it comes to pregnancy, states that pregnant women do not appear more at risk in terms of contracting the infection. However, they do indicate that if a pregnant woman does contract COVID-19, there is a chance she may pass it on to the baby, also known as vertical transmission.

To find out a bit more about vertical transmission, and how COVID-19 may transmit to the baby, we spoke to one of our Members, Rachel Tribe, Professor of Maternal and Perinatal Sciences at King’s College London. 

So vertical transmission generally means the transfer of virus to the baby in utero. Although it’s sometimes used to talk about transmission from mother to baby after the baby is born but it really means in utero.

So could a baby become infected with COVID-19 through vertical transmission? Well, there have been conflicting reports into this. Two small studies from China found COVID-19-specific antibodies in blood samples from babies born to mothers with the virus, whilst other studies have found no mother-child transmission. What is clear, however is that more research needs to be done to investigate this further in larger samples. 

We’re planning a study where we’ll be looking at viral protein in cord blood, which is the blood that the baby would have seen, having gone through the placenta. What we’re trying to do is two things – we’re looking at women who appear asymptomatic for covid-19 and we’re screening them and we’re taking samples of cord blood and a heel prick blood from their babies to determine whether they have been exposed to viral protein or not. And we’re also looking at the inflammatory response in mothers who have covid-19 whilst they’re pregnant, and particularly in labour, to see whether that inflammation may have some impact on their baby.

For up to date information on pregnancy and coronavirus, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists continually monitor new research and update their guidelines.