There is very little risk that a pregnant woman with Covid will transmit the disease to her baby, especially when she has a mild form, shows a large study published on Wednesday. “The SARS-CoV2 positivity rate is low in babies born to a mother infected” with the coronavirus, summarizes this work published in the British Journal of Medicine.
Only 2% of babies born to a positive mother have
This study is important because it is one of the first of this magnitude to raise the question of the transmission of Covid through pregnancy. This is a meta-analysis, which takes up and compiles several hundred pre-existing studies, and therefore allows a priori firm conclusions.
According to these, it is not impossible for a pregnant woman to transmit the disease to her baby, but it is a rare phenomenon. When the mother is positive for the virus, regarding 2% of babies test positive within days of birth.
However, this figure hides variations depending on the circumstances. It seems more common for a baby to be infected when the mother has suffered a severe form of Covid, especially in the event of hospitalization. In these severe cases of Covid in the mother, the researchers therefore encourage systematic testing of the baby. But, in general, they call rather to avoid taking specific measures when the mother is simply positive for the virus.
Breastfeeding is possible
It is particularly inappropriate to consider “the separation at birth of mother and baby”, they note. The study also considers that there is no risk of transmission of Covid through breastfeeding, which leads the authors to exclude recommending the systematic use of artificial milk.
“Overall, the conclusions of this study seem reassuring,” said researcher Catherine McLean Pirkle, who was not involved in this work, in an editorial also published by the BMJ.
But she points out that the data used by this study, although numerous, remain of uneven quality. In particular, they do not allow us to say how dangerous these rare cases of newborn Covid are for the child.
