key: cord-0704037-ao8bsq6p
authors: Birkhead, Monica; Glass, Allison J; Allan-Gould, Heather; Goossens, Carice; Wright, Colleen A
title: Ultrastructural evidence for vertical transmission of SARS-CoV2.
date: 2021-08-14
journal: Int J Infect Dis
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.08.020
sha: 2531f87665ee0cd3351b7cb117c955946d251412
doc_id: 704037
cord_uid: ao8bsq6p

nan

Since the initial Lancet correspondence by Goldsmith et al. (2020) , there have been numerous published electron micrographs of putative SARS-CoV-2 virions in biopsy and autopsy tissues.

A recent review of these images (Bullock et al., 2021) indicated that previous ultrastructural reports of virions in placental tissue, were mis-identifications. Placental histology of mothers and neonates both testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, is typified by chronic histiocytic intervillositis and trophoblast necrosis, with RNA in situ hybridization/immuno-histochemical findings localising viral RNA/viral antigens to the syncytiotrophoblast (Schwartz and Morotti, 2020) .

This histopathology is considered a risk factor for vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which, as yet, is infrequently documented (Bukowska-Ośko et al., 2021).

Ten days prior to a caesarean section performed at 30 weeks due to decreased fetal movements, a Ethical approval: Ethical approval was not required.

Declaration of Competing Interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

The immunological role of the placenta in SARS-CoV-2 infection -viral transmission, immune regulation, and lactoferrin activity

Difficulties in differentiating coronaviruses from subcellular structures in human tissues by electron microscopy

Electron microscopy of SARS-CoV-2: a challenging task

Placental pathology of COVID-19 with and without fetal and neonatal infection: trophoblast necrosis and chronic histiocytic intervillositis as risk factors for

Acknowledgements: MB acknowledges operational funding from the NICD-NHLS. There was no grant funding. MB would also like to thank Cynthia Goldsmith for her expert advice.