Pregnant Woman Who Contracted COVID Gives Birth To Baby With Protective Antibodies

A Woman from Singapore named Celine Ng-Chan was diagnosed with COVID-19 while she was 10 weeks pregnant. It was March of 2020 and the COVID Virus was comparatively novel. Scientists and medical labs were still learning more about this infection.

Ng-Chan’s Healthy Son

Very little information was available at the time she contracted the disease which must have added to her stress levels during pregnancy. But all of it has now converted into a sigh of relief.

Ng-Chan gave birth to her newborn baby 28-30 days ago in early November. It’s a baby boy named Aldrin. The positive news is that Aldrin has not any trace of the virus.

Aldrin is COVID-19-free and it appears that he has acquired protective antibodies from his mother’s experience with the virus. At the time of delivery, Ng-Chan wasn’t COVID-19 positive, learned by Straits times.

What Did The Mother Say?

“My pregnancy and birth was smooth sailing despite being diagnosed with COVID-19 in my first trimester, which is the most unstable stage of the pregnancy. I’m very blessed to have Aldrin and he came out very healthy,” Ng-Chan said. “I feel relieved my COVID-19 journey is finally over now.”

Her story becomes a backing proof/material to the research suggesting that mother-to-infant COVID-19 transmission is rare.

Dr. Jessica Madden, a pediatrician, and neonatologist who serves as medical director of Aeroflow Breastpumps is of the opinion that babies born to women who’ve had the illness may be somewhat protected.

Newborns Whose Mother Had The Disease Seem To Be Protected

Minor research works have suggested that COVID-positive mothers pass on IgG antibodies — the type that indicate recovery — against the virus to their fetuses in utero. 

One study published in the month of March of six women who tested positive for the virus at delivery showed results and had found five of the six had elevated levels of IgG antibodies even though none had COVID-19. All of the women wore masks, delivered their babies via C-section in negative-pressure isolation rooms, and were isolated from their children immediately after delivery — something more recent research has suggested is unnecessary.

A similar incident happened in the month of October where an infant born to a mother who had asymptomatic COVID-19. The newborn had IgG antibodies but a negative COVID test, demonstrating “passive immunity” through the placenta.

Synopsis

• A Singaporean woman who had COVID-19 gave birth to a baby who has antibodies that seem to be protective against the coronavirus.
• Minor research works offer the findings that antibodies against COVID-19 cross the placenta in utero, but not much is known about how long the presumed immunity (duration of the immunity) may last.