March 16 (UPI) —<\/span> The virus that causes COVID-19 can be passed from a pregnant person to their baby before, during and after childbirth, but such cases are “rare,” a study published Wednesday by BMJ found.<\/p>\n Less than 2% babies born to people infected with the virus also test positive, the data showed.\n<\/p>\n<\/article>\n However, newborns are more likely to test positive when their mothers have severe COVID-19 or were diagnosed with the disease immediately after childbirth, the researchers said.<\/p>\n Still, vaginal births and breastfeeding do not increase the risk for COVID-19 in newborns, even when their mothers have the infection, according to the researchers.\n<\/p>\n “It is possible for the virus to be spread from the mother to baby while in the womb, during childbirth and after delivery,” study co-author Dr. Shakila Thangaratinam said in a press release.<\/p>\n “However, parents and healthcare professionals can be reassured that only a very small proportion of babies born to mothers [with the virus] test positive,” said Thangaratinam, a professor of maternal and perinatal health at the University of Birmingham in England.<\/p>\n The findings are based on an analysis of data on more than 14,000 babies born worldwide to pregnant people infected with COVID-19, according to the researchers.\n<\/p>\n Although babies can be infected at any time during pregnancy and delivery, highlighting the need for appropriate measures to reduce the risk for viral transmission, only 1.8% of those included in the study tested positive for the virus, the data showed.<\/p>\n All infections, in both pregnant people and their newborns, were confirmed using PCR testing.<\/p>\n However, because babies born to people with severe COVID-19 are more likely to test positive, they should be tested after birth and monitored closely, according to the researchers.\n<\/p>\n Pregnant people should also get vaccinated against the virus to prevent infection and severe disease, the researchers said.<\/p>\n Previous research has also found COVID-19 transmission from pregnant person to newborn is rare.<\/p>\n Recommendations from the World Health Organization also suggest that, given the low transmission risk, the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh any concerns about passing COVID-19 to newborns.<\/p>\n Future studies by the same researchers will explore the effects that different variants of the virus and vaccination have on newborns, they said.<\/p>\n In meantime, however, Thangaratinam said the new study shows “that the risks of infection to” for babies born to people with the coronavirus “are rare.”<\/p>\n “Mothers should also be reassured about the low risk of viral transmission through vaginal birth, skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding, all of which should be encouraged,” she said.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Risk of COVID-19 transmission from pregnant person to newborn is rare, according to a new study. File photo by Jim Ruymen\/UPI | License Photo March 16 (UPI) — The virus that causes COVID-19 can be passed from a pregnant person to their baby before, during and after childbirth, but such cases are “rare,” a study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1023734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[261,176,4757,2784,5337,28,3820],"class_list":["post-1023733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-covid19","tag-finds","tag-newborn","tag-pregnancy","tag-rare","tag-study","tag-transmission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n ![\"Study:](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Study-COVID-19-transmission-to-newborn-is-rare-during-pregnancy.jpg\" "\\"Study:")
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\n<\/div>\nRisk of COVID-19 transmission from pregnant person to newborn is rare, according to a new study. File photo by Jim Ruymen\/UPI | License Photo<\/div>\n\n