SARS-CoV-2 antibodies transferred across the placenta in 87% of pregnant women who had COVID-19 at some point, suggesting that newborns of seropositive mothers may have some protection against the novel coronavirus at birth, according to a study today in JAMA Pediatrics. However, a second, unpublished study suggests that the maternal-infant antibody transfer is lower than expected. IgG but not IgM in cord blood In the first study, a team led by researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia collected discarded maternal and cord blood sera from 1,471 mother-newborn pairs with available sera for measurement of anti-spike protein immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) at Pennsylvania Hospital from Apr 9 to Aug 8.

 

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