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HomeWorldSingapore woman, who was Covid-positive during pregnancy, gives birth to baby with...

Singapore woman, who was Covid-positive during pregnancy, gives birth to baby with antibodies

While the baby had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, it is unclear if he is immune to the virus and if they were passed from his mother.

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New Delhi: A 31-year-old woman from Singapore, who tested positive for Covid-19 during her pregnancy, has given birth to a baby with antibodies against the virus.

However, it is still unclear whether the antibodies, which are proteins produced by the immune system to fight foreign agents, were passed from the mother or the baby developed them. It is also not clear if the baby is immune to the virus.

According to a report in The Straits Times, Celine Ng-Chan, a private tutor, was infected with Covid-19 during her pregnancy, one of the few in the country.

“It’s very interesting. His paediatrician said my Covid-19 antibodies are gone but Aldrin (the baby) has Covid-19 antibodies,” she was quoted as saying.

Ng-Chan contracted the virus when she was 10 weeks pregnant after returning from a holiday in Europe in March.

“I wasn’t worried that Aldrin would get Covid-19 as I read that the transmission risk (from mother to the fetus) is very low,” Ng-Chan told The Straits Times.

The baby was born on 7 November in the National University Hospital (NUH), one of the major hospitals in Singapore.

Ng-Chan and her baby are also part of large study involving several public hospitals in Singapore to investigate how Covid-19 may potentially impact the well-being and health of pregnant women and their babies.


Also read: Covid-positive pregnant women could experience symptoms for months, study says


Impact of Covid-19 on foetus

The impact of coronavirus on the foetus if a pregnant women tests positive is still not very clear.

According to the World Health Organization, “We still do not know if a pregnant woman with COVID-19 can pass the virus to her fetus or baby during pregnancy or delivery. To date, the active virus has not been found in samples of fluid around the baby in the womb or breastmilk.”

Tan Hak Koon, Associate Professor and Chairman at the obstetrics and gynaecology division of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), said that there was evidence that infants born to mothers with Covid-19 had antibodies.

“However, it is still unknown whether the presence of these antibodies in a newborn baby confers a degree of protection against Covid-19 infection, much less the duration of protection,” he told The Straits Times.


Also read: 1 in 10 pregnant women could have Covid and are likely to be asymptomatic, finds study


 

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