fetus, disease & medicine

Compared with Zika and cytomegalovirus, the virus that causes COVID-19 appears to have a harder time penetrating the placenta and moving to a woman’s unborn baby.

The virus rarely spreads from mother to child before birth, but it can—and researchers are starting to investigate the path it takes.

Transcripts circulating in the blood provide real-time information about maternal, fetal, and placental health.

Trophoblasts, collected from the mother during a blood draw, can determine fetal genetic abnormalities currently diagnosed through amniocentesis or chorionic villi sampling.