Chennai: A new study has revealed that babies born to Covid-19 positive mothers showed few adverse outcomes.
The study, led by researchers at University of California San Francisco, suggests that babies born to mothers infected with the virus generally do well six to eight weeks after birth.
However there was a higher rate of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions reported if the mothers had Covid-19 up to two weeks prior to delivery.
The study is published as a pre-publication accepted manuscript in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
According to lead author Valerie J Flaherman, associate professor of pediatrics and of epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF, “The babies are doing well, and that’s wonderful.”
“When coronavirus first hit, there were so many strange and unfortunate issues tied to it, but there was almost no information on how Covid-19 impacts pregnant women and their newborns. We didn’t know what to expect for the babies, so this is good news.”
Among 263 infants in the study, adverse outcomes—including preterm birth, NICU admission, and respiratory disease—did not differ between those born to mothers testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and those born to mothers testing negative. No pneumonia or lower respiratory tract infection were reported through eight weeks of age.