COVID-19 can disrupt the placenta's immune response

A study led by the University of Washington School of Medicine found that if a woman contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy, even if the infection was mild, it could disrupt the placenta's immune response to further infections

The study was published in the September 17 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr.

This finding is the "tip of the iceberg" of how COVID-19 might affect fetal or placental development

She noted that early in the pandemic, many people thought that COVID-19 would not seem to harm a developing fetus because very few

"But what we're seeing now is that the placenta is vulnerable to COVID-19, and infection changes the way the placenta works, which in turn could affect the development

The placenta provides nutrition, oxygen, and immune protection to the fetus until birth

"It's really challenging to study every variant in real time," Adams Waldorf said, "because they always come up so fast that we can't keep up

Whatever the variant, Adams Hordolf stressed that it is important that women do not contract COVID-19

Pregnant women should be vaccinated and fortified first, then continue to wear masks and be strictly isolated in the same vaccination and fortification population

"The disease can be mild or severe, but we can still see these abnormal effects on

In this study, a total of 164 pregnant women were studied, including 24 healthy patients who were not infected as a control group and 140 patients infected with

Placental tissue is approved by patients through the Intermountain Healthcare Research Institute Review Board in Salt Lake City, Utah or the Human Subjects Division

Brahm Coler, W.