Immune system, not COVID virus, that poses greatest risk to pregnant women. The virus in the placenta is rare, the placenta in infected mothers tended to exhibit a much higher level of immune system activity than those of non-infected pregnant women.
Highlights
- Having a strong immune system lowers the risk of infection in pregnant women
- Covid-19 does not affect the placental tissue of infected expectant mothers
- As, the placenta exhibits a much higher level of immune system activity
Their analysis found that while evidence of the virus in the placenta is rare, the placenta in infected mothers tended to exhibit a much higher level of immune system activity than those of non-infected pregnant women, they report in the journal Med.
"The good news is the placenta is mounting a robust defense against an infection that is far distant, in lungs or nasal tissue," said Shelli Farhadian, assistant professor of internal medicine (infectious diseases) and neurology at Yale and co-corresponding author.
"On the other hand, the high level of immune system activity might be leading to other deleterious effects on the pregnancy."
The team headed by Farhadian and Akiko Iwasaki, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology at Yale, analyzed blood and placental tissue in 39 infected and as well as COVID-free expectant mothers at different stages of pregnancy.
Those receptors had largely disappeared in healthy women at later stages of pregnancy.
Immune system activity in the placenta during infections like COVID-19 has not been extensively studied and it is not known whether other types of infections would behave similarly to SARS-CoV-2, she said.
Source-Eurekalert