Early Pregnancy Puts Fetus At Higher Risk For COVID | BabyGaga
When it comes to , the fetus may be more at risk during early pregnancy. Women who are pregnant are considered “high risk” when it comes to COVID-19. Precautions have been taken to make sure they are safe, and that includes limited people at appointments and ensuring that they stay home as much as possible to prevent coming in contact with the virus. One of the problems with COVID-19 is that it is a “novel” virus, meaning that it is new, and experts are learning more about how the every day.
According to and , they are now learning that the risk to an unborn child may be the highest in the first trimester. This may be valuable information for women who have just gotten a positive pregnancy test, or who are about to start trying to conceive.
For the majority of pregnancies, COVID-19 has rarely infected the placenta. is essential for a healthy pregnancy because it is what the baby depends on for oxygen and nutrients. However, rarely does not mean never, and new research has shown that when the virus does infect the placenta, it is typically at the beginning of a pregnancy.
They analyzed 12 placentas from healthy women, and they ranged in gestation from 5 weeks to 36 weeks. They found that the placentas that had been infected with the virus had the surface protein that the virus uses to gain access to the placenta.
In later pregnancy stages, the proteins appeared to be set up in a way that protects the placenta and does not allow the virus to be passed through as easily. This means that a woman and her baby are more susceptible to the virus in early gestation. More work would need to be done to see just how this would affect the fetus and/or the newborn.
This again placed an emphasis on how important it is to make sure that mom is taking precautions early in pregnancy. While it is important to take precautions throughout the whole pregnancy, research is telling us that the highest risk period may be the first trimester.
The world will await more studies and information on how affects pregnancy and unborn babies because it is only with information that society can do its part to make sure that everyone is protected the way they need to be.
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