Researchers at Duke and Mt. Sinai have identified a molecular mechanism that prevents a viral infection during a mother’s pregnancy from harming her unborn baby.
When a person becomes infected by a virus, their immune system sends out a chemical signal called type I interferon, which tells surrounding cells to increase their anti-viral defenses, including making more inflammation.
This response helps to prevent the virus from copying itself and gives the adaptive immune system more time to learn about the new invader and begin to hunt it down.
A pregnant woman who encounters a virus generates these same signals to protect herself, but if those signaling molecules and the resulting inflammation were able to cross the placenta and reach the fetus, they would lead to serious developmental abnormalities and even fetal death.
But this generally doesn’t happen, except for the Zika virus and a handful of other viruses known to replicate inside the fetus and harm it. (Despite almost 100 million reported cases of COVID-19 to date around the world, there is no strong evidence that the virus which causes the disease, SARS-CoV-2, poses a threat to fetuses.)
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