Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ7kx-WjUfS/Women contracting CoVid while pregnant are 29% more likely to deliver babies who later develop symptoms and signs of autism spectrum disorder including speech, motor, and cognitive problems. Maternal-fetal medical researchers at Harvard’s Mass. General Hospital studied 18,124 live births at the hospital over a 14 month period and just published their results in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.The risks were higher in boys and when the CoVid infection occurred in women during their third trimester. The researchers believe that  CoVid hyper-activates the pregnant mother’s immune system, a phenomenon that occurs with other infections known to negatively impact fetal brain development. Although the overall risk of autism remains low, this possibility for women contracting CoVid while pregnant should trigger more close surveillance after the child is born.  Having a child with autism is just more reason to avoid a CoVid infection while pregnant. The most ef