New York: Researchers in the US made a shocking confirmation of brain damage in two babies having infected with Covid 19 in the womb.
The University of Miami study found that Covid 19 virus crossed into mothers’ placenta causing the damage, according to the journal Pediatrics.
This is the gravest of findings yet on the deeper impact of Covid 19 infections after the pandemic started sending millions into emergency care three years ago.
Both babies were born to young mothers tested positive for the virus in their second trimester before vaccines were available.
At around the time when these women were pregnant in 2020, infections by Delta variant were peaking across the world.
Both the babies suffered seizures post birth before undergoing developmental delays.
Later one child died at 13 months while other was placed in hospice care, according to the study.
Nevertheless neither of the babies tested positive for virus, they were found to have high levels of Covid 19 antibodies in their blood.
Dr Merline Benny, a neonatologist and assistant professor of paediatrics at the University of Miami, also said that viruses were passed on from mother to the placenta , before entering the babies.
An autopsy of the dead child's brain showed traces of the virus, meaning injuries were caused by direct infection.
While one mother with mild symptoms carried the baby to full-term, the other being serious sick had to deliver her baby at 32 weeks.
Dr Shahnaz Duara, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the University of Miami, said the cases of brain damage were rare but asked women who had been infected during their pregnancies to check for developmental delays of their babies.