Does Covid impact unborn babies?

A pilot study has found genetic changes in babies whose mothers caught the infection while pregnant.

MORE research into Covid’s impact on pregnancies is needed, a top researcher says, after a preliminary study found tiny genetic changes in babies whose mothers caught the infection while pregnant.

Monash University scientists emphasised the changes – seen in how genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders “express” themselves – were from a small study of eight infants and their mothers, four of whom had caught Covid while pregnant.

But the peer-reviewed results, published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity – Health, were in line with past epidemics, where babies whose pregnant mothers caught the Spanish flu or rubella had an increased risk of developing autism and schizophrenia.

Monash University head of psychiatry Professor Suresh Sundram told the Herald Sun parents did not need to be alarmed, and they could not yet determine how the genetic changes found in their study would affect the children.

He said researchers, led by Monash University Associate Professor Rachel Hill, used “cutting-edge technology” to examine the DNA of eight infants and their mothers “across 850,000 spots along the genome”.

“Environmental or external influences can alter the way a gene is regulated,” he said.

“We found that some of the babies … appeared to have changes in a number of genes that are involved in neurodevelopment, the development of the brain and the nervous system."

Prof Sundram said the research could have huge implications. Picture: iStock

He said the potential implications of the research – funded by a charity donation from One in Five – were “critical” for health systems globally but they needed a much bigger, international study to “make any distinct conclusions”.

“We’ll need to get much larger government or commonwealth funding,” he said.

“If in fact Covid infection during pregnancy does increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, it would have significant implications for nations’ healthcare systems.

“We absolutely need to be able to follow these children to determine what the likely risk is both with regards to this current pandemic, but also to inform us what we need to do in future pandemics.

“This is really, really important work.”

He said the changes to the genes’ expression were not caused by Covid infection directly, but by the mother’s immune response, and a new study involving 48 babies had begun.

This was not the first time researchers have found Covid can affect pregnancy, and an Australian Health Department vaccination fact sheet has reported it leads to a “slightly higher chance” of premature birth and newborns needing intensive care treatment.

Professor Sundram said the best thing women who were pregnant, or hoping to be, could do was ensure their Covid vaccinations were up to date.