![Mothers are Unlikely to Pass COVID-19 Infection to Their Newborns
Mothers are Unlikely to Pass COVID-19 Infection to Their Newborns](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/pregnancy5.jpg)
‘Neonatal COVID-19 infection is uncommon, and also commonly asymptomatic in those babies who are affected.
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Many early reports in the literature on COVID-19 in pregnancy suggested that in order to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from mother to baby, it was safer to have a cesarean, to isolate the baby from the mother at birth and to formula feed, but there was very little evidence to support these guidelines.To conclusively look at the risks associated with COVID-19 and pregnancy, experts from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham have undertaken a systematic review of 49 studies looking into this much talked about topic.
The studies reviewed included 666 neonates (newborn babies) and 655 women (as some women delivered twins). Of the women who delivered their babies vaginally, only eight out of 292 (2.7%) had a baby who tested positive for COVID-19.
Of the 364 women who had a cesarean, 20 (5.3%) of those had a baby who tested positive for COVID-19.
The data also showed that the infection rates to be no higher when the baby was born vaginally, breastfed or allowed contact with the mother immediately after birth.
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Dr. Walker said: "There has been a lot of concern around whether pregnant women should be concerned for the health of their babies if they contract COVID-19.
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"We would also stress that vaginal birth and breastfeeding are safe for mothers who find themselves in these circumstances."
Dr. Jeannette Comeau is a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician at Dalhousie University; she said: "I am happy to see that the data continues to be reassuring, supporting keeping the mother/infant pair together after birth, underlining that while occasional postnatal infant infection is detected, the clinical course tends to be mild. From the cases of infection in the newborn, we do not have confirmatory evidence that this infection was acquired in the womb or during birth."
Source-Newswise