COVID-19 and Pregnancy: Vertical Transmission and Inflammation Impact on Newborns
Open Access
- 15 April 2021
- Vol. 9 (4), 391
- https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9040391
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and we are still compiling new findings to decipher and understand SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy. No reports encompass any conclusive confirmation of vertical transmission. Nevertheless, cases of fetal distress and multiple organ failure have been reported, as well as rare cases of fetal demise. While clinicians and scientists continue to seek proof of vertical transmission, they miss the greater point, namely the cause of preterm delivery. In this review, we suggest that the cause might not be due to the viral infection but the fetal exposure to maternal inflammation or cytokine storm that translates into a complication of COVID-19. This statement is extrapolated from previous experience with infections and inflammation which were reported to be fatal by increasing the risk of preterm delivery and causing abnormal neonatal brain development and resulting in neurological disorders like atypical behavioral phenotype or autistic syndrome. Given the potentially fatal consequences on neonate health, we highlight the urgent need for an animal model to study vertical transmission. The preclinical model will allow us to make the link between SARS-COV-2 infection, inflammation and long-term follow-up of child brain development.Funding Information
- Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida et les Hépatites Virales (18213/ AO 2018-1 CSS1)
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Subvention)
This publication has 145 references indexed in Scilit:
- Into the Eye of the Cytokine StormMicrobiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 2012
- Respiratory Physiology in PregnancyClinics in Chest Medicine, 2011
- Use of nonhuman primate models to investigate mechanisms of infection‐associated preterm birthBJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2010
- Neonatal Sepsis and Neutrophil InsufficienciesInternational Reviews of Immunology, 2010
- Maternal Influenza Infection During Pregnancy Impacts Postnatal Brain Development in the Rhesus MonkeyBiological Psychiatry, 2010
- Maternal Immune Activation Alters Fetal Brain Development through Interleukin-6Journal of Neuroscience, 2007
- Postnatal growth and morphological development of the brain: a species comparisonBirth Defects Research Part B: Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology, 2006
- Species comparison of postnatal CNS development: Functional measuresBirth Defects Research Part B: Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology, 2003
- Breastfeeding Provides Passive and Likely Long-Lasting Active ImmunityAnnals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 1998
- Evolution of Maternofetal Transport of Immunoglobulins During Human PregnancyAmerican Journal of Reproductive Immunology, 1996