Babies born to moms with COVID-19 should be watched for long-term effects, according to a study published last month by Cell Today.
As of now, it is unknown how babies exposed to COVID-19 during pregnancy will be affected compared to babies born without exposure, Dr. Andrea Edlow, a maternal-medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, told USA Today.
But, she adds, babies are rarely born infected with the disease.
The study summarized that mothers affected by COVID-19 during pregnancy "show increased inflammation" with "rewiring in both mothers and neonates [or infants in otherwords], and a "long-term clinical follow-up to mitigate potential health risks" is advised.
"Our intent is not to scare people, just to make them aware that (these children) should be followed over time. There's definite evidence that maternal immune activation in pregnancy could be associated with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric problems later in life," said Dr. Karin Nielsen-Saines, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped author the study.
For three years, Nielsen-Saines and her colleagues will follow 500 children in the USA and Brazil who were born to mothers exposed to COVID-19 during pregnancy. The authors believe that will be enough time to detect any signs of autism developing in the children, but not long enough to assess any long-term effects.
"The children we're more concerned about are the ones born to mothers with severe illness," Nielsen-Saines adds.
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