Study shows coronavirus can be transmitted in utero

A study published by Nature Communications last July 14, 2020 shows evidence that the coronavirus may be transmitted by pregnant women to a fetus. 

The subject of the study was a baby born in March to a mother who was confirmed positive for the coronavirus. The baby is now three months old, and is “very much improved, almost clinically normal”. The mother needed oxygen during birth, but is also considerably healthy at present. 

Researchers say that this new finding will help medical institutions deal with mothers who are test positive for the coronavirus. They add that such occurrence is very rare, and that evidence confirms that the disease is very mild during early infancy. 

Editor’s Note: The publication of this article in mainstream media caused some panic among pregnant women who are nearing their delivery date, which speaks of the fear that prevails in society today. We add this article to this website because we wish to highlight some points which may have been missed by those who have initially read this article. 

First, we acknowledge the evidence raised by the study which supports the in utero transmission of the coronavirus. We, however, wish to remind the reader that the issue of testing has not yet been resolved, hence there is a possibility that this was another false positive case [see RT-PCR Tests Are Scientifically Meaningless to understand the issue on RT-PCR tests]. 

Second, we would like to reiterate what the researchers discovered: the disease is very mild in early infancy, and the infant’s immune system is able to neutralize the virus, as evidenced by the child’s recovery despite no therapies received. This is not a surprising finding as previous researches have already shown how babies’ immune systems are designed to neutralize a majority of viral and bacterial threats [see Understanding The Immune System Of Children May Be The Key To Understanding Susceptibility To SARS-COV-2 to understand this better]. 

This article highlights the reality that a healthy immune system has the capacity to neutralize the threat of the coronavirus. Yes, that RNA they attribute to the SARS-COV-2 may continue to exist within our bodies, but it doesn’t mean that you will die because of it [viruses neutralized by our immune system continue to exist within our bodies, and sometimes, they push our own evolution forward, read Our Complicated Relationship With Viruses to know more]. In fact, current data about the coronavirus is showing us that a majority of those infected do not develop symptoms at all [see USC-LA County Antibody Study Suggests True COVID-19 Infections Higher Than Official Count, Iceland Testing Shows That Half Of Coronavirus Carrers Have No Symptoms, Cruise Ship Experience Shows More Symptomless SARS-COV-2, Why You Haven’t Caught COVID Yet].