Can pregnant women pass on coronavirus to babies? Yes, but it’s rare, study finds

Pregnant women can pass coronavirus to their babies, according to a study in JAMA Pediatrics.

The study looked at 33 pregnant women in China who had COVID-19 and found three of the women passed the virus to their babies, The Los Angeles Times reported. All three of the babies survived after being treated for symptoms, the doctors said.

“Because strict infection control and prevention procedures were implemented during the delivery, it is likely that the sources of SARS-CoV-2 in the neonates’ upper respiratory tracts or anuses were maternal in origin,” the doctors wrote in the study.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t have any information yet on whether pregnant women have a higher chance of getting coronavirus. But based on studies of similar illnesses, pregnant women do have a greater risk of getting severe symptoms from infections, the CDC said.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women avoid infection by following guidelines for the general populations including covering your cough, avoiding sick people, and washing hands often with soap or hand sanitizer.

Hospitals around the country have been limiting the number of visitors that can be present during delivery, according to NPR.

“This has been, reasonably, upsetting,” Rachel Pilliod, an OB-GYN who teaches obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University told NPR. “We understand that giving birth is more than a physiological process,” she says, and many families have expectations about sharing the occasion in person.

This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Can pregnant women pass on coronavirus to babies? Yes, but it’s rare, study finds."