According to new research, the coronavirus can potentially invade and destroy the placenta and result in stillbirths in infected women.

Investigators in 12 countries, including the United States, examined placental and autopsy tissue obtained from 64 stillbirths and four newborns who died soon after birth. All the cases involved unvaccinated women who contracted COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. Jeffery Goldstein, a pathologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that the study indicates that damage to the placenta, rather than an infection of the fetus, likely leads to COVID-19-related stillbirths.

Study lead author, Dr. David Schwartz, said that in many of the cases, more than 90% of the placenta was destroyed. The study is published in Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine… (Deccan Chronicle – AP, February 11, 2022)