There are already many reasons to worry COVID-19but there is one more thing to add to the list: there is evidence for that virus in fetal brain tissue when pregnant women pass the infection on to their children.
So it’s not only the effects of the disease on our bodies that are of concern, but also the effects on the bodies of babies who are still pregnant – something that scientists have already studied check urgently.
The team examined 661 human fetal tissue samples taken between July 2020 and April 2022 and observed bleeding in 26 of them. COVID-19 was present in all tissue samples with evidence of bleeding.
All samples were collected from electively terminated pregnancies.
“While hemorrhages occasionally occur in developing brains, it is extremely unusual to have so many cases within 21 months.” says neurobiologist Katie Long from King’s College London in the UK.
“It is now of paramount importance that we follow up on children who have been prenatally exposed to COVID-19 so we can determine if there are long-lasting neurodevelopmental effects.”
The researchers highlighted signs of a reduction in blood vessel integrity and an increase in immune cells infiltrating the brain that are linked to tissue damage. This can be a direct result of the COVID-19 infection or an indirect result of the mother’s immune response.
Although the Coronavirus confirmed only in fetal tissue, it is safe to assume that the infections were transmitted from infection in their mothers. Whether the bleeding was a direct result of the mother’s COVID or infection of the fetus — or if the relationship involves an unknown factor — isn’t clear. But the connection is strong enough to be a cause for concern.
In addition, most of the samples showing evidence of bleeding were from the late first and early second trimesters of pregnancy, suggesting that the fetal brain may be affected in the earliest stages of its development. We already know that this is a crucial time for the developing brain as it creates barriers to self-defense.
“We know that severe viral infection can affect the fetal brain, but this important study is the first to suggest this may occur in pregnancies affected by COVID infection.” says physiologist Lucilla Poston from King’s College London. Poston was not involved in the study.
“Regardless of the cause, a direct effect of the virus or an indirect result of maternal infection, this study underscores the need for pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to avoid complications for both mother and child.”
traces of SARS-CoV-2 have also been detected in tissue samples from the placenta, amnion and umbilical cord, suggesting that there may be further complications caused by the presence of COVID-19.
Viral infections in mothers are regularly associated with neurological damage in children; the zika virus is one of the more high-profile cases in recent years, showing just how significant these implications can be.
We have previous studies Fetal health problems are associated with COVID-19 cases in pregnant mothers, but so far the pool of data on this topic is relatively small – which scientists hope to change in the future.
“Our results suggest that there is an association between the early development of human fetal brain tissue and susceptibility to infection by COVID-19,” says neurobiologist Marco Massimo from King’s College London.
The research was published in Brain.
