Doctors assessed the risk of autism due to COVID and offered advice to expectant parents.

Women planning to become pregnant in the future should be vaccinated against the coronavirus to prevent complications for their unborn child after birth. Russian experts stated this in an interview with RBC, commenting on a study by American scientists showing that children of women who contracted the coronavirus during pregnancy have higher rates of complications.covid-19 , there is a high risk of developing autism.

According to Sergei Netesov, a virologist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and head of the Laboratory of Bionanotechnology, Microbiology, and Virology at the NSU Natural Sciences Department, in order for the fetus to develop healthy, it is necessary to develop some additional recommendations for expectant mothers.

"First, before conceiving a child, you should check for antibodies to the coronavirus. If you don't, I would suggest getting vaccinated with Sputnik first and only after two or three months would I suggest having a child. There's no official recommendation for this in Russia yet, but it's being actively discussed in Europe and America. That's the current view," the expert said.

Commenting on the scientists' research, the specialist emphasized how girls and boys cope with the disease.

"Regarding other studies, the results of which were published in 2023, I can say that yes, there are differences, and, as a rule, only in boys. There are virtually no differences in girls. But the fact is that boys are generally more susceptible to all these infections, or rather, male fetuses are. This has been noted before with other infections," the specialist explained.

He also noted the existence of approximately 20 TORCH infections that affect pregnancy. These include rubella virus , cytomegalovirus, toxoplasma gondii (a non-viral pathogen), and many others. According to the expert, each of these pathogens has a different effect on the mother and child, which is why there are special recommendations for women who want to become pregnant and give birth to a healthy child. The specialist said it was unsurprising that SARS-CoV-2 was also included among these pathogens.

"But the fact is, the consequences aren't as severe as, say, rubella, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasma, and so on. What was noted a year ago? Neurological disorders were observed to be two to three times more common than in pregnancies without this disease. Developmental delays are also slightly more common, but this is only the result of one or two years of observation, and it is known that these delays usually disappear afterward. But the developmental delays can't be called radical. They were simply comparing children born to mothers without COVID-19 and those with it. Everything else was the same. Deviations were observed in a small number of children. Generally, twice as many as in mothers without COVID-19. That is, if there was one percent, then two percent. And so on," Netesov added.

Konstantin Chumakov, an adjunct professor at George Washington University and president of the consulting company NextGen Bio, stated that COVID-19 infection disrupts brain function in people who have recovered from the disease, leaving long-term consequences.

"This occurs due to a virus-induced autoimmune reaction that attacks neurons. Therefore, it may also affect fetal development. Therefore, it's best to avoid COVID-19 and get vaccinated," Chumakov said.

Previously, American scientists found in a study that COVID-19 infection in pregnant women may increase the risk of autism in a child. In the study, pediatric infectious disease specialist Karin Nielsen, together with colleagues from Mattel Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles, concluded that approximately 14% of infants born to women who had recovered from the coronavirus showed signs of early motor development problems. At six to eight months of age, 13 of 109 infants (almost 12%) born to infected mothers had not reached typical developmental milestones. Meanwhile, all infants in the control group, born before the pandemic, showed normal development. Those surveyed by the agencyBLOOMBERG experts explained that the findings are not definitive, as the study's sample size was small.

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